Occasionally, I hear some people said, “This dish is too beautiful to eat”, and they may also said, “This dish is like a beautiful work of art.” In the bottom of this case, people who eat the food actually pay attention on color, appearance and shape. Of course, their so-called “art” belongs to the visual arts. Nowadays, there is a popular way to express idea through food, and artists become food to visual art in a variety of ways. Artists remove nature of the most important features of food to sublimate food to be able to make people appreciate the art. Telfer mentioned, “The essence of the process [of duplication] is that it enables an artist to produce many copies of one work. Since we can call each engraving a work of art, we can call each pie a work of art, at least in the classifying sense,” (Telfer, 17). Everything could be called “art”. Therefore, I think food is art, because beautiful food could be visual art and also artists create art by using food. However, the question is why would they think that only the desirable food could be called art?
If we think about the question from the other side, the “eating” is also seen as a way to appreciate art, because the mouth also is an artistic touch. Assume there are no eyes and ears anymore, so the teeth and the tongue is a way to stir the human perception of art. In this way, we will be able to find the most experienced food adventure and the most specific nature of food. Therefore, if the food is really an art, so the only way we appreciate this art is to destroy it. We can experience the full beauty of food through action of eating, in order to understand the essence of food as an art. The value of food is the moment of a lifetime’s death, because we can never enjoy the food if we don not destroy the food. Food is art, and the only way we enjoy it is to eat it.
I completely agree with the points you have made! I definitely see food as art. While it troubles me at times where we should draw the line, I found your points very interesting. I agree that food as art can come in many forms. Telfer explained how we can have aesthetic reactions to the taste and smell of things (not only the physical presentation). I think this ties into the point you are making about our consumption of food as a way of enjoying art. While I had never thought of it in that way, I think you are absolutely right. If someone was blind, I believe that they could have the same aesthetic reaction to food (in an art form), as any seeing person. The way they may experience that appreciation would be through the intake of it and all of the senses that are associated with that. I think many works of art can appeal to many of our senses and become aesthetically pleasing to us. As we may appreciate the presentation of food we can also enjoy the satisfaction it brings when we eat it.
I think it is interesting that you said we can only appreciate food as art by destroying it. When we eat we technically physically destroy the food but by saying we destroy it makes it sound like we ruin it. It gives eating a sort of bad connotation. I do not think it should be considered as “destroying,” but more like transforming the food. We transform the food into taste and touch in our mouthes. Similar to how you said tasting food is a form of art. When we eat we are appreciating the food in a different way than if we were look at it.
I’ve definitely had that moment of “it’s so pretty I don’t want to eat it” but for me personally, the act of eating it is the art. That’s how i enjoy it and appreciate the flavors. While eating is changing the physical beauty of the food, the invisible beauty, aka the flavors, is what really makes food beautiful. I also think it’s really cool how a dish or food could look like something, but taste completely different and unexpected.
Thank you both for your feedback!
Alison, I agree with your opinion that the different forms of art could provide different experience for audiences. For example, drawing provides us the visual impact, and the music gives audiences impact on our hearing. If we see the food as art, and then the food brings to us the taste experience. Also, Initially, people create the food in order to satisfy the needs of our body. Although the food is now elevated to art, the most essential aim of food is still to meet people’s needs.
Emily, I think you are right about “destroying food”, and I should consider transforming food rather than destroying food. Due to I consider food as art, the way to enjoy a work of art suppose to be opposite rather than destroying the artwork. Also, I think transforming food is great because we transform food to stimulate our sense of taste, transforming expresses the action and objective when we eat food.