Art and Cooking Reporting

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Giuseppe Arcimboldo. Vertumnus. 1590-1591. Oilon wood. Skoklosters Slott, Balsta, Sweden

Art and

Cooking

Heinz D. Pelayo

February 11, 2012



Food, Art and Culture

What is art?

What is special about food as art?

Comparing food & other forms of art.



What is Art?

Forms of art

± Fine Arts: Music, literature, paintings,

sculptures ± Performing Arts: Movie, theater, dance,

chorale

± Applied Arts: Architecture

Why do we participate in artisticactivities?



Art Defined

A piece of art is an object that gives us

pleasure.



Objections

Many things produce pleasure but do not

constitute art.

Many pieces of art do not produce pleasure.

A = P



A & P



~A & P



A & ~

P

Marcel Duchamp

Fountain 1917.

Damien Hirst A Thousand Years



Modification

A piece of art is an object that is DESIGNED

to produce pleasure.

It is making or doing things, using unusual perce ption, that displays form and beauty.



Food as an Artform

Can food constitute a unique form of art,

other than being a painting, sculpture, etc?



Food as an Artform

As in literature, there can be a poetry to the

way dishes are described in a menu.

Te nd e r pi eces of ch i c k e n se a son e d wit h a uniqu e spi ce bl e nd fri e d to

gold e n pe rf ec tion and se rv e d wit h h om e mad e

gravy.



Food as an Artform

As in music, there is a rhythm to a great meal,

when it flows from one course to another like

a symphony.



Food as an Artform As in painting and sculpture, the visual

aspects of a dish can enhance the

appreciation of it.



Food as an Artform As in theater, the way something is

presented, by people in costumes, with music

playing, with precise timing ± is as much a

part of the experience as the thing itself.



Food as an Artform And as in architecture, while the subjects in

question are at their most basic level, they

are functional.



What Leading C

hefs T

hink

³Cooking is indeed an artistry, it¶s a form of

creativity and expression, especially the more

defined you become with your cuisine. Thedirection you decide to take it in ±your

personal style- usually depends on your

background and your education´

- Bradley Ogden



What Leading C

hefs T

hink

³We are certainly associated with the arts,

there¶s no question about that. But the

affiliation hides an enormous amount of hardwork«. What helps the chef is the simple

desire to create dishes that are constantly on

a high level. It¶s a shame you can¶t put it on

canvas´- Gray Kunz



What Leading C

hefs T

hink

³ Architecture in the Midde Ages was the

mother of arts« you had to be a sculptor, a

painter and a musician« Careme was afrustrated architect who constructed edible

pieces montee. I see that relationship exists ±

cooking for the public is a very visual

discipline.´- Wayne Nish



What Leading C

hefs T

hink

³It¶s an incredibly capricious art in that it

doesn¶t last. Ten minutes after it¶s served, it¶s

gone. I was sort of miserable about that issome respects, and then I think it was Maida

Heara who argued with me that I was wrong

± because cuisine lives on in memory.´

- Norman Van Aken



What Leading C

hefs T

hink

³Chefs can be extremely creatibe, but our

form of art doesn¶t last ± except in cookbooks.

In painting, imagination is key. But in food,you must use your senses to create, in a way,

a µvirtual reality.¶´

- Daniel Boulud



Chefs and Professional Cooking

THREE CATEGORIES OF CHEFS

Trade Craft Art

Category ³Burger

Flippers´

Accomplished

Chefs

Culinary

Artists

Customer

Goal

Survival Enjoyment Entertainment

Chef¶s

Intention

Fill/

Feed

Satisfy/

Please

Transcend

/Transport





Chefs and Professional Cooking

THREE CATEGORIES OF CHEFS

Trade Craft Art

Number of

Senses Affected

5 5 6

Customers

Leave

Saying

³I¶m Full´ ³That was

delicious´

³Life is

wonderful´



The Argument of Cooking as

a Trade

³« I¶ve always argued that I don¶t think

cooking should be considered as an art for

argument¶s sake. The reason I say that isbecause I think it¶s a skill that grows out of

human need ± everybody needs to cook.´

- Chris Schlesinger




a Craft

³How do you measure success as a chef?

Well, did you get them in the gut? Did you get

them in the heart? And, most importantly, didyou get them in the mouth? These should be

your goals.´

- Joyce Goldstein




an Art

³There is a point that you are not, and a point

that you are. When you¶re able to bring your

feeling and intuition to a dish ± the artist iscoming out at that point.´

- Gray Kunz

³There are not that many culinary artists. Only

a small proportion of chefs fall into that

category´

- George Germon and Johanne Killeen



The Art and The Customers

Customers vary greatly in terms of:

± Knowledgeability about food and wine

± Personal history ± Life experience

± Likes and Dislikes

These factors affect not only the customer¶s

dining experience but also for interpretingwhat a chef may try to express in his food.







³Non-cooks think it¶s silly to invest two hours¶

work in two-minutes enjoyment, but if cooking

is evanescent, well so is ballet.´- Julia Child



The Art of Composition

Composition: the act of composing or putting

together a whole by combining parts; an

arrangement of the parts of a work of art soas to form a unified, harmonious whole.




³There are some cooks who create just for

the sake of creating. But when it comes down

to eating a dish, it has to make sense. If oneflavor is fighting with another, and too many

things are going on, it doesn¶t work.´

- Bradley Ogden




The starting point is a classical foundation:

some, and preferably much, familiarity with

ingredients and techniques. In addition, a chef¶s individual preference will,

over time and in the right circumstances, give

rise to the chef¶s own personal style of

cooking.



FinalWord

In order to create with food, or to create dishes, you

really have to have the end in mind. You have to

perceive a picture or a vision of what you¶re trying to

create, and create that picture with you ingredients

and techniques. The ingredients are the things thatare most visible, that you can see, and how you put

them in and whether they¶re in the foreground or in

the background or the center of the identity are the

techniques that you use to cause that all to come

together. In order to accomplish that, you have to

have experience, continue to try things and

experiment. But there are many canvasses that are

discarded before the final painting is ready and

released.

Documents

Art and Cooking Reporting