Thursday, March 10, 2011

Culinary Art


Restaurant versus art gallery

When I go to an art show I see the same behavior from the people at the show as I see in a fine dinning restaurant. There are lots of oohs and ahs, and even some big smiles or sometimes even tears. Food can move your spirit just like a Renoir painting or a Da Vinci sculpture. (At my house, emotions can be stirred with an amazing chocolate dessert.) The owner of an art gallery who showcases art for a living has to keep in mind what the clients are interested to buy and not necessarily showcase only what is nice to look at according to the owner. The chef of a restaurant has to keep in mind what people want or the restaurant will not make it. I am sure that some artists don’t care if a certain art work does not sell, but as a chef, your art needs to sell or you are out of a job. So a chef creates art with a very specific target audience in mind where many artists create without any thought of who is going to buy it…


Painter versus cook, struggling financially

Most famous painters become famous after their death and many famous chefs have had their creations become classics long after their death, too. For artists, there seems to be an unwritten law that you need to struggle financially for many years and sometimes all your life for success to truly find you. Most cooks struggle to make a decent living, sometimes for many years or other times learning quickly that “making it” is tough work. Here too, the similarities between culinary art and any other art can be striking. Think about musicians for a minute… many young musicians produce one hit and that’s it. Some actors will have one or two good movies and disappear. And of course, many cooks and chefs can go up as fast as they can come down in popularity.
All cooks will be influenced by their surroundings when it comes to creating, just like any other artist. I have seen many young cooks make amazing creations either in taste or looks, but in general a cook needs to learn from a good chef to put the whole picture together. In the right hands, a cook can become an incredible artist and in the wrong hands a cook will never get a chance to develop to a full potential.


Not many arts actually touch as many senses as the art of food

Most arts, whether you are talking about music, theater, painting, sculpting or any other you can mention, will usually stimulate your eyes, ears and in many cases stir some emotions inside you. A great dish in a restaurant can affect these senses and others as well. When you enter culinary school, one of the first things you are told is that people eat with their eyes first, so you must make sure that the plate looks good. Where actors, musicians and writers must rely on emotions evoked from what you see and hear, culinary artists can also persuade you with what you taste and smell. The power of this complete and all-encompassing sensory experience can also evoke memories of other experiences, as eating is an intrinsic part of life itself.

In a professional kitchen, a great chef always tries to get your mind going with not only flavors, but also architecture and colors; and they hope that you will leave with a feeling of wanting more. Even amateurs however, can take a stab at being artists, for they too can evoke a response with a dish that has special significance or tradition.


Expressive work

Just like any other art form, culinary art can be expressed in various ways. In different cultures there are unique base traditions and styles that develop, and they evolve not only within those cultures but also from the blending of other cultures. This fusion creates whole new styles that then evolve as well. As painters have been influenced by political events, so are chefs influenced by lifestyle changes and events such as global warming. Science has also had effects on this art as it has on others; molecular gastronomy shows how the combination of chemistry and creativity can create foods like warm ice cream. This could be compared to the development of the air brush or the electronic keyboard.

As long as there is no law stating how much salt or pepper you can put in your food, there will be an element of creativity in cooking. And the people who make a career of cooking are by nature creative people who express themselves with their creations. Who are we not to call them artists when we enjoy their art on the Food Network and in numerous magazines and at tables around the world?

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