Category: Unit 04

The article”Is Food Art? Chefs, Creativity, and the Restaurant Business?” was written by FabioParassecoli, associate professor and coordinator of food studies in New York City. It introduces three important elements of the topic of “food as art”, they are chefs, creativity and the restaurant business. Parassecoli says that the question of whether food can be considered an art form resonates among scholars, practitioners, and aficionados. This article successfully related these elements to art. first of all, it points out that “Chefs are not just craftsmen, artisans, or business persons; they are expected to offer patrons (and critics) dishes and menus that stimulate and surprise eaters”, which has also discussed by Tefler in his article “Food as Art” (2002) : Tefler was talking about how people who don’t think food as art simply view chefs as artisans, however, Parassecoli thinks that many Chefs has the goals that similar with artists: they try to surprise people with their creatures. Also, just like today’s artist, they are using the technologies and medians to introduces themselves and their works to the world. Second, Parassecoli cites an essay “Food and New York city” as resource to explain avant-garde as “the pioneers or innovators in any art in a particular period”, “the presence of innovators that can be considered an intelligentsia, and a specific environment: the arts”. Cooking is a kind of creative process which has the similar characteristics with art. Lastly, the author shows the business element, the art marketing and the food marketing both has direct relationships with the investors and the cosumers. Young artist usually has the finical help form investors and then as the development of their career, the price of their artworks are determined but the market. Likewise, the Chefs are more likely to rely on investor’s money to produce the outcome, the spaces for their creativity may limited by this rule. However, today’s young gifted chefs prefer to take the risk from the market and try to show their creatures, the tension between food market requirements and creativity is the same with the other art fields, “is not easy to resolve”.

I liked this article because it not only compares the food and art themselves, for example, the taste, smell and the patten which could get people’s aesthetic attention, but also pay attention to food and art industries. This article focus on the element that I am most interested in: the Chef and their innovation, I think these are important factors of the topic”Food as Art”. In the article “Food as Art”, the author said: “it is obvious that foodstuffs can be made into visual objects which are works of art”. ( Tefler, p13). Food and drinks are works of art especially at the sense of the taste and smell, the foodstuffs are doing the works of art to create these outcomes. The author considered both the cookery and the cook by focusing not he creating processes. However, Parassecoli further introduces the Chefs put their creativities to produce outcomes as sometime they are facing the refuse from the “narrow-minded customers”, the creating isn’t easier for the chefs than the artistes.  In this case, both the chefs in the three star restaurant and an artist are facing the same level of changeling. 

Both these two articles talks about the Chefs and foodstuffs, if food is art, are these chefs and foodstuffs are attests? The answer seems obvious, however, many people might questioning the topic “food as Art” with an statement: aren’t chefs are just craftsman? Parassecoli says that “chefs are not just craftsmen, artisans, or business persons; they are expected to offer patrons (and critics) dishes and menus that stimulate and surprise them, find new methods to manipulate ingredients, and interact with technology and design in ways that keep them on the cutting edge and ensure coverage from press, TV, and the Internet” (Parassecoli, 2013).  It give the ideas that chefs are using the some path that the artists are using to be successful, both of them are creative jobs. Similarly, Tefler gives the difference between art and craft: art is original but craft is carrying the instruction, therefore the difference between art and craft is not between people but the aspects between the works. I count agree with it more, if the consideration on if food are art are based on the creativeness, some food can qualify as art and the cook is not just craftsman.

 

Work Cites

Parassecoli, Fabio. (2013, August). Is Food Art? Chefs, Creativity, and the Restaurant Business? Huffington Post [On-Line Newspaper]. Retrieved August 1, 2014 from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/fabio-parasecoli/food-art_b_3830791.html

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You have made good point about how “dishes are mainly made through transforming normal materials to beautiful piece of works”.  I agree with you about the recreating is an important aspect of considering food as art. This process is highly similar to the process of making art works. For example, sculpture. However, I am not quit sure if we should consider about the taste of food when when talk about food as art, it is more likely to ask if someone dislike oil paintings, this person could not have aesthetic reaction towards oil paintings, is this type of painting not art for him?  For example, we saw the “fast presentation” the fast food could be tasting good for some people because they have the chemical seasoning, which may make the taste good for someones, but not many people would like to say fast food is art. I think food can be art, but we should see more  meanings of food rather than what do we see, what do we smell and wheat do we taste.

When I saw the title of  this article, immediacy I remembered  a conversation between me and one of my friends, she came from Iran, once we talked about food while she was chopping vegetable to cook Iranian food in her kitchen, she said:”Oh my god, Iranian food needs so much chopping!” I said: “Chinese food also needs lots of work, I think that why they turn out so good!”  Both of us choose to spend more time on cooking because we enjoy food as we enjoy art. I asked myself if food is art, my answer was: not the fast food, but the ones that show the wise of human toward eating. In fact, the good food isn’t only about eating, it has culture: culture of the family or culture of the country; the passion from the cooks and the passion from the people who are eating; the spread of trade; the recreating of subjects; the design of color and patterns of a dish. For example , the “Slow food presentation” showed all the process and carrying from people during the food making, it includes how different generations, the mother and the son, working together to create great food. This could make me feel good and say: “it is beautiful!”. The same reaction I will have when I appreciate an art work.  As I read the article” Food as Art”, I agreed with Tefler about food this special art is not hard to be determined : “This is a work of art for society if it is treated by that society as primarily an object of aesthetic consideration” (p13).  This clearly argued that some people might say food isn’t art just because they could not find this definition through what they have learn from the books or school. People are told to have aesthetic reaction in certain environment and content, in shorts, people think something is  the “work of art” that are named by “work of art”.  Therefore they think the painting in museum is art but the food is not. Behind this, many people like me, do have the aesthetic reaction towards food. Even though, as the article discussed, food may be lack of evidence to be an art because it follows instructions rather than originally creative, I think  most food has a part of creativity.  Different people may have different point of view over this question” should we see food as art?” Which point will you choose ?