Art is one of the great ways in which we as a species define ourselves. For all our similarities to different animals, there is no Chimpanzee Proust or Parrot Picasso. Even so, while we recognize literature, painting, sculpture, music, theatre, and so much more as art forms, one type of art consistently avoids being valued as such – the culinary arts.
Preparing fine food is about more than simply stuffing your face. It’s a living, breathing art form – and here’s why.
Cultural Value
Few things mark cultures quite like the foods they consume. Empires rise and fall, languages and artistic styles change drastically over the years, but certain recipes, such as matzoh for Jewish people and various rice and noodle dishes in East Asia, have remained the same for millennia. The world changes around us, but the foods we eat provide a common starting point for all who share the same culture as well as culinary menu.
A Multicultural Menu
The foods we eat are also, increasingly, products of multiculturalism. We can’t imagine Italy without pizza, but many of the most important ingredients – including tomatoes – come from the New World. The same goes for Irish Potatoes and French Fries, with the humble potato also being a New World crop. On the flip side, what we call “Chinese food” in the West is largely the product of Chinese-Americans reworking their own native dishes for a Western audience. The same is true of “Mexican food,” with Latinx culinary creators innovating upon and changing original recipes along the way. Sometimes, food’s multiculturalism is even part of history – more than 5,000 Russians waited for hours around Pushkinskaya Square on January 31, 1990, as the first Mcdonald’s in the Soviet Union opened in Moscow.
Subjectivity and Style
As with any great art form, there is a ton of subjectivity involved in the culinary arts. What you think looks, smells and tastes beautiful is bound to be different than someone else’s taste, and those tastes are themselves once again couched in cultural norms. “French Cuisine” has a culinary flavor as distinct from “Indian Cuisine” and as different as India and France themselves. The two help to define what we consider “French” and “Indian Culture,” from French wine cultivation playing a huge role in French art through the ages to Indian menus being beef-free in deference to Hinduism’s enduring views on cows and animals’ rights.
Food speaks to our past, helps define our present, changes with the future, and helps define who we are – all of which is the sign of an art form prepared to perfection.