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For this week the idea of food as art was the topic. The assignment was to search for our own reputable source on the issue, and then discuss how the source related to our reading. To do this I chose an article about a restaurant that recreated a famous modern art piece using the ingredients for a salad, and then used those same ingredients in different mixes to try and determine whether or not the presentation was more appealing.
I tried to find an article that addresses the theory of food as art as opposed to represented food art. The way this answers the prompt of the assignment is through its connection to the theoretical idea of food as art, as opposed to providing examples. In the reading, “We naturally associate the word “aesthetic” with the arts, but we can also speak of an aesthetic reaction to natural things such as a beautiful landscape, or to man-made, non-art objects such as pieces of machinery” (Telfer pg. 9, 2002). This quote shows how aesthetics are connected outside of art as well. To address this idea I compared it to the article, “The visitors to this restaurant saw the food as art, or at least as aesthetically pleasing, and they were more appreciative of that food because of this connection.” I wanted to show how food can become art through the aesthetic connection that we think of with art. For the future I want to learn more about the complexities of food as art, and then try to define for myself the exact line between food as food, and food as art.
Telfer, E. (2002). Food as art. In Neill, A. & Ridley, A (Eds.), Arguing About Art: Contemporary Philosophical Debates (2 ed., pp. 9-27). New York: Routledge.
Link to Assignment: Food as Art Research.