Because food and drink are so essential to our survival, many fail to appreciate them as a form of art. However, it should be obvious that food can serve a greater purpose than simple nourishment. “We can distinguish liking the taste and smell of food from approving of it instrumentally on the grounds that is nourishing, fashionable or produced by politically respectable regimes” (Telfer, p., 11). In other words, food oftentimes produces an aesthetic reaction separate from the knowledge that after eating it, one should expect their appetite to be satisfied. Telfer describes an aesthetic reaction as one that is “non-neutral, non-instrumental, having a certain intensity and often accompanied by judgments for which the judgers claim a kind of objectivity” (Telfer, p. 11).
I believe that food should certainly be viewed as an art. While some argue otherwise on the grounds that food’s main purpose is not to produce an aesthetic reaction, the fact that people are willing to pay a premium for higher quality food demonstrates that food serves many more purposes than simple biological necessity. It can be argued that cooking is a craft (carrying out instruction, following a convention or employing a technique), rather than art (an original creation). The distinction between the two is unclear, as the act of cooking requires very different degrees of autonomy. While fast food is intended to be produced in a uniform manner that prohibits any artistic expression from the cook, a good cook is able to interpret recipes and processes in a way that makes each dish unique. Although it is easier to argue that a cook at a high quality restaurant is an artist, even the least autonomous cook has to use personal judgment when dealing with ingredients of varying quality and improvising when the instructions cannot be followed exactly. The reason that the demand for high quality food exists can be explained by Dissanayake’s assertion that humans have a need to make things special; “via art, experience is heightened, elevated, made more memorable and significant” (Dissanayake p. 10). Because food is a form of art, many are willing to pay a premium for food produced by an artist that has ‘made special’ out of what is otherwise mundane.
Citation:
Dissanayake, E. (1991). What is art for? In K. C. Caroll (Ed.). Keynote addresses 1991 (NAEA Convention), (pp.15-26). Reston, VA: National Art Education Association.
Tefler, E. (2002). Food as Art. In Neill, A. & Riley, A. (eds.) Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2nd ed., Chap. 2). New York, NY: Routledge.
When reading through your post I really appreciated your view on food being art and the ways it is usually discounted due to its inherent purpose. In fact when I was reading I felt that your really stressed the main purpose of food is the nourishment that it brings. This is something that when reading most other posts I did not notice or really see in other’s writings. The fact that food is primarily for nourishment, but many times can secondarily be for art. Most people have the view that art has to either be art or be something else, but in reality art can have other purposes as well as provoking an artistic response. This theme carries over to more than just food, but other arenas as well. The craftsmanship of a great tool can be both functional and artistic. There does not have to be one singular purpose to art, and that is something that I really noticed from your writing.
The Quote you pulled from Telfer stating that food is, “non-neutral, non-instrumental, having a certain intensity and often accompanied by judgments for which the judgers claim a kind of objectivity” (Telfer, p. 11) did not stand out at me when I examined it. Reading this quote from a third party with your analysis connected to it gave a whole new meaning for me. The judgement of food has always been an exciting notion for me. My favorite shows are cooking shows such as Chopped, Americas Top Chef, and Master chef all on the food network. Not only does food have to be a creative process, but in order for it to be successful, people have to enjoy it and that presents the judgement part of cooking. Even though the chefs put a lot of work into their courses, they are often not preferred by the judges, and they have that right to claim objectivity.