“Do not play with your food” is an admonishment we have heard from many generations. But base on what we read last week, Dissanayake says, art is something that is natural, such as “language, sex, sociability, aggression, or any of the other characteristics of human nature” (Dissanayake p.4). Art is a form of communication that is embedded into every human being on this planet, and just like all the other forms of communication, it varies greatly from one to another. Food is also a form of art that can communicate within the culture. From preparation, to the final food presentation on the table, it is an artistic process that involves different opinions from different people of various cultures. Food is an essential to everyday human life, therefore, it can be a way to express oneself’s uniqueness depending on one’s likes and dislikes about food. People communicate to each other about good and bad food, and express difference of opinions about it.
When you first go to a restaurant and want to order something to eat, what will you order? In this sense, people will pay great attention to the aesthetics of the food displayed on the menu. That’s why people spend so much money on enhancing pictures as well as doing advertisements of food. When a dish arrivals on the table, the chef will want to make sure that is looks amazing. This is almost like an artist displaying a sculpture or a painting to the audience. Food is art which is made by the chefs and chefs want other people to look at it. Just like what Telfer says ” if something is a work of art, then its maker or exhibitor intended it to be looked at or listened to with intensity, for its own sake”(Telfer P.12).
Zhennan, I also agreed with you that food is a form of art. When I was reading your blog it popped in my head that a chef is an artist. I do not know why I never put the two together. Creating the food for a chef is like a painter painting a portrait. One area of your article that I may slightly disagree with you on is that chefs try to make their food look amazing. I think that solely depends on the restaurant. Some restaurants, especially higher end restaurants, take pride in their food being aesthetically appealing. While lower end restaurants do not care as much. However I do agree with you that all restaurants try to make their food on the menu look even better than it looks in real life. They try creating a beautiful artistic looking picture that makes you want that food. I was just studying abroad and one place that I noticed this occurring was in Japan. When I was walking around a part of Tokyo trying to find a place to eat, I noticed a lot of the restaurants had fake dishes displayed in their windows in hopes that you would see it and it would draw you into the restaurant. Looking back on it, that was definitely a form of art because someone took the time to make each dish look appetizing so people would come in. The author from this week’s reading confirms my idea that those fake dishes were art when she says, “I know perfectly well that the pile is a work of art in the first sense: that is, I know that the artist and the gallery owner intend us to gaze at it with intensity and that the public will probably oblige” (Telfer 13). Although this quote is saying that bad art is still art, I think it applies to the fact that food in the window is a form of art as well. I believe that window in the restaurant would be considered the arts gallery and the food itself would be the art that the “owner [intended] us to gaze with intensity.”
Hi Zhennan, I agree with you that food is a form of art. As you mention, people would pay attention on the aesthetic consideration on food and it can affect the attractiveness of food to people. Telfer also mentions this point, “many meals are intended by their cooks to be considered largely in this way- to be savored, appraised, thought about, discussed-and many eaters consider them in this way” (14). She think this is an important factor to decide if food is art because the traditional definition of art is “a thing intended or used wholly or largely for aesthetic consideration” (Telfer 14). Your post remind me an interesting point which is that the most of menus in the American restaurants do not have the picture for the food, I think that is really inconvenient for the consumers. In addition, American restaurants should recognize the how the aesthetic factor could attract eaters.