The Muse Dialogue

Culinary Compositions

themusedialogue — Tue, 19 Jun 2012 15:39:38 +0000

A food and color curation by Emilie Griottes.

Food certainly has a visual element to its artistry. The appeal of food to the sense of sight has expanded ever more in the contemporary world of media, with beautiful dishes available on cable channels and online viewing. Yet at the end of the day, it is still the taste that matters, is it not? In today’s article from The Muse Dialogue, Naina Singh looks at the balance of sight and taste as she reflects on “Culinary Compositions.” (click link to read the full article, and have a sight of things that must taste good!)

Food, Second Among the Arts

themusedialogue — Wed, 06 Jun 2012 15:05:56 +0000

Art is meant to stir the senses, and neither a ballet not a bas relief can rival the sensation of cracking through the sweet glass of creme brulee to probe the embarrassing riches below. Not that pedigreed desserts with foreign names are the only convincing examples of food’s sensory superiority. There are those who prefer poetry over painting, but everyone would rather have a donut.

Food writer and longstanding aesthete Aaron Kagan composes our latest article “Food, Second Among the Arts” (click to read full text).

Mimesis and Molecular Gastronomy: The Cognitive Dissonance of Food Art

themusedialogue — Wed, 30 May 2012 13:56:41 +0000

In her first article on food, Rachel Hite considered the “aesthetics of food.” Now she turns to the aesthetic experience of mimesis and cognitive dissonance in the food art of Ferran Adria. “Cognitive dissonance” typically refers to the discomfort felt when one notices a discrepancy between previously held beliefs and observed behaviors or circumstances – how we respond to new encounters based on our expectations built from past experience (click here for more). Ferran Adria puts aesthetic experience in most unexpected places as he explores the world of “molecular gastronomy.”

Click here to read Rachel Hite’s continuing examination of the art of food in her latest article, “Mimesis and Molecular Gastronomy: The Cognitive Dissonance of Food Art.”

The Aesthetics of Food

themusedialogue — Tue, 22 May 2012 13:59:46 +0000

by Rachel Hite

Food is a basic necessity for human survival. Likewise, many an artist will undoubtedly tell you that art is a also basic necessity, an inherent part of human life without which one literally cannot survive. But can food itself be art?

Rachel Hite argues for food to be regarded among the arts in her contribution to The Muse Dialogue, “The Aesthetics of Food” (click to read full article).

An Art Overlooked

themusedialogue — Fri, 18 May 2012 10:37:28 +0000

The question of whether to consider food an art is not a frivolous one, though it may seem so at first blush. It presses up against the larger questions of how we characterize anything as an art. Art requires the willful manipulation of materials with the primary intention of creating an aesthetic result. It would seem that food could fulfill the basic requirements of becoming art, and perhaps we have just overlooked it.

The Muse Dialogue launches a new series today: Is Food Art? with Andrew Swensen’s “An Art Overlooked.” (click to view full article)