Is food art? This is a good topic for people to discuss with, food is necessary for every people and people need food every day during their whole lives. In my opinion, I think food can be considered as art. Before we start to talk about “is food art?” we must first define “what is art?” I personally think we cannot give such a precisely definition of what art real is, because each person has their own taste and experience to define “art.” However, although different people have different thoughts, we can still find some common points of art. According to Dissanayake’s essay “What Is Art For” she mentioned “Art is a normal and necessary behavior of human beings that like talking, exercising, playing, working, socializing, learning, loving and nurturing.”(26.) which gave us an idea art can be defined during people’s daily lives in a very common way. Art is everywhere. She also claimed “ ‘aesthetics’ – a concern with elucidating principles such as taste and beauty that govern all the arts and indeed make them not simply paintings or statues but examples of (fine) ‘art’ ”(18) I agree with this point of view, this is why I think food can also considered as art.
In my country, China, people evaluate the food from its” color, smell, and taste.” Those three parts like a standard to evaluate which the food is good or not. In Tefler’s essay “Is Food Art”. She states, “It is also claimed that tastes do not allow such things as balance and climax I can only suppose that those who say that balance and climax are not possible in food have never planned a menu for a dinner party” (22). Thus, it will push people spend lots of time to think about how to create or prepare food not only has attractive appearance but also good tastes. A good appearance can stimulate people’s appetite, a good taste will make eaters feel happy and enjoy, and also bring accomplishment to the chef. Therefore, I personally think food is art because it not only has many flexible styles but also has its own diet culture in different countries.
I found it interesting that the people from china evaluate food from it’s color, smell, and taste. Food is such a huge part of our lives and it’s intriguing to see how different cultures evaluate it. The appearance of food definitely plays a big role in the experience, and can almost trick someone into choosing one item or dish over another depending how appealing it is to the eye. Do you think that the three factors you mentioned for evaluating food (color, smell, and taste) have even pulls, or do you think one of them is more influential than the other? Additionally, since aesthetics plays such a big role in a person’s experience with food, do you think people would prepare food differently if we lived in a blind society? Or similarly, do you think food would still be considered art if it didn’t have the visual component to it and the art form was strictly based on it’s taste and sent? All in all, I agree with your perspective on food as art. If people plan out the presentation of their mean, and prepare the food so it enhances specific flavors, then food would qualify as “something special”, according to Dissanayake.
Hello, Joyanna,
Thanks for your comment. Firstly, I personally think the three factors I mentioned (color, smell, and taste). Have even pulls when we evaluate which food is good or not. Because those three parts do have some relationships to each other. It is not very hard to understand, for instance, in a love relationship, a man fall in love with a woman, he might attracted by the woman of her beautiful appearance,( which can present as “color”), then he starts to approach the woman make simple communication,(which can present as” smell”), finally, he knows everything about this woman and fall in love with her.( which considered as “taste”). This is my personal understanding. In second place, I think no matter we lived in what kind of society, the food is necessary to everyone, with this strongly demand, the developing of food is an inexorable trend. Although I can’t give a certain definition about what food can called art, but I still agree with the point which is food well-prepared with creative thoughts, has it characteristic (no matter from appearance or taste) to attract people, can be considered as art.