“Noncooks think it's silly to invest two hours' work in two minutes' enjoyment; but if cooking is evanescent, so is the ballet.”- Julia ChildAndrea posed the question, Is cooking an art? She suggested that the final product rather than the process of cooking is what may be considered art. Speaking from personal experience, I have a friend in culinary school in France and from the stories I´ve heard her tell, I gained a new appreciation for the science of food. One must know precise measurements, the way in which an ingredient will be manipulated through heating, freezing, boiling, or mixing, the orders of application or layers of ingredients which will satisfy taste buds the most, temperature, density, storage techniques, color combinations, and presentation styles. If we take into account our class requisite of art as something that requires skill, food and its preparation can, in my opinion, definitely be considered art. Culinary technique is taught. It is a science. Presentation and care can be put into preparing a dish or a meal. Furthermore, the sight, taste, and overall feeling of fullness after consuming a meal could be thought of as a moving/emotional experience-- another requirement of art that we discussed in class. Surely boiling water or microwaving a pizza isn´t art, but I do think that some culinary processes and creations could justifiably fall under the art category.
Sam, I totally agree that cooking is considered an art. In cooking if you do one process wrong, like measuring, heating or mixing, the whole end result of the meal could be wrong. From personal experience I've had this happen to me before. Cooking to me can be considered an art for the emotional and science aspects.
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