When food becomes art

Thank you @Francesca, I will be fascinated to read the book. Did you have a part in its creation?

@epicuric

Yes, I translated it from French into English for the family member and author & photographer of the Book, however, I used my Middle Name and my mother´s Maiden Surname instead of my 1st name and my paternal surname which is Francesca M. Guillamet.

Due to my profession as a Tour Operator & Tour Guide, I prefer not to use my real name for editioral projects that I do as a hobby

Have a nice day..
 
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After the opening post it is difficult to provide a simple answer which is what I like to do. Still I will say.. It must be presented well even if it doesn't have the taste PRIMARILY if I am eating out. In the confines of my home flavour is my art if that makes any sense. The ideal thing is artful presentation and great taste.. I am all over the place so I should stop now.
 
I guess on plating, it depends on many factors. The main one being lifestyle. I can't say I have ever been in a restaurant where they served a bunch of garnishes to make the food look better.
You get your meat and your sides. Not even fancy at the high end steak houses here.

As to the comment about friends and food, I am probably fixing to horrify some of you.
I once had a dinner party. The guests ranged from teacher to nurse to financial to retired to college students. One student was upper class. All walks of life.
The guests were handed a plate and told to help themselves off the stove.
They all devoured the gravy they found in a bowl off to the side. (That wasn't gravy. It was the pan drippings from the roast chicken. So it was chicken fat, bacon, and margarine. )
Everyone loved the dinner and asked if they could come back next year.
Now yes, the upper class guy did look rather shocked at first but he promptly got over it.
I have been to many parties like that and hosted or at least done the food prep for plenty more of a similar nature. They are often the best and most successful.

As for the OP.

Having lived on the road for a year, cooking out of a single pan often as it was going dark and cold, I came to appreciate the days we had when we stayed in a hostel. I missed ovens and grills big time. Just bring able to bake something again was fantastic. But I also found that I prefer taste. I've worked in a kitchen/kitchens in the past where a little bit was taken over presentation and it was ok. I've tried hard at home to make things look better on the plate, but the year on the road definitely answered some of those questions. Smell followed by taste come way beyond presentation especially when you're hungry.
 
This prompted (in me, at least) the slightly wider question of where does art end and science start? Or vice-versa, if you prefer.

There are certain areas where there is a considerable overlap. Architecture, for example. Furniture making is another. Culinary matters could enter a similar category.

Having studied linguistics, I found it intriguing - and indeed bizarre - that there are people (generally classified as formalists) who would like to make literature a form of science. I argued against this at considerable length throughout my studies, but there is no need to go too deep here. I'm just using it as an example.

The big question: What is art? Always a favourite for a rainy afternoon in Fife.
 
If you like the art of M C Escher, music, and math/logic, you might like to read Godel, Escher, Bach: an eternal golden braid.

I read it in high school and it helped me understand a way of thinking that is useful in many ways.
 
Not unreasonable, but if we create something using scientific principles then science and art must necessarily meet.
Someone somewhere will always discover something in science. It is simply a matter of time (ok and often the money into research), but the point is that something Nitrogen or Flanks constant were always going to be discovered. Something like my landscape photos, below for example, was created because even though there were other there at the same time, they don't see it the same way I do. No-one else could have taken that picture. It would always have been different. It wasn't waiting to be discovered. No matter what scientific principles I used, it could not be duplicated, period. I see things differently to the next person standing alongside me. I have been on training courses in landscape photography lead by a professional landscape photographer and students sitting next to me on the Isle of Skye with the identical equipment neither saw nor took the same images. In some cases, they took nothing because the didn't see what was there to be taken. I on the other hand, saw things differently to them so my photos are by definition not science, but art.

 
Screenshot_2017-06-18-15-16-58.png In my country we have a way of putting everything on a single plate especially if you are eating in. A friend posted this on Facebook. I call it an abstract piece gone horribly wrong...a hot mess!!
 
...I have been on training courses in landscape photography lead by a professional landscape photographer and students sitting next to me on the Isle of Skye with the identical equipment neither saw nor took the same images...
When hubby and I each toted our own camera on vacations and day trips, we would set up to take a photo of the same scene. When we got home, or even when we stopped for a bite to eat, we'd compare shots. Most of the time, we each framed the scene completely differently. Now, we just snap shots with our phone cameras and call it a day.

Our son now goes around his city taking all sorts of photos and posts them daily on Facebook and Instagram. I can see a lot of my framing in his style, but he edits and enhances way more than I ever would - yet, it works for him. Different strokes, etc...
 
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