Food is art! Everything to do with food is actually an art form. You'd have heard the saying "cooking is a form of art", and yet it is, but that is only one part of it. The entire concept of food, from creating the recipe to the final eating of the dish is a form of art, and a very precise form of art if you pay real attention.
Food in itself is anything edible. But what makes food an experience and a joy, is what goes into the food. So the best ingredients and spices are usually selected by chefs to create their masterpieces. If even one ingredient is even a little out of place the flavour of the dish will change completely.
So important are ingredients that in a display of the most dishes at the Administration Committee of Baibuting Community in Wuhan City, China, 581 dishes, out of the 8727 entries, were disqualified because they had all used the same main ingredient. Incidentally, China holds the world record for that display.
Like any other art form, imagination plays a huge role in cooking. Chefs from the world over know and understand their tools, their canvas, and their paints. Before they even start to create their art, they first imagine what the flavour would be like. Chefs have been known to spend days trying to get an elusive flavour just right. Chefs are visionaries and they curate and swirl things together so that the person experiencing their art are left in awe.
Presentation is half the war. A real visionary understands this. Presentation of food was brought in by Catherine de Medici, wife of Henry II of France because she knew that these creations should never just be served in a bowl or a plate with a spoon. Plating is the art of presenting the food in such an appealing way that people who are getting ready to eat are already convinced that it will taste like heaven. A drop here, a smear there, some garnish, and maybe a leaf or a flower. Now both your eyes and your nose will tell your brain that something amazing is about to happen.
You could give someone the best gourmet meal, but if it is on the footpath of a busy Indian market, no one will be able to enjoy it. So setting up the ambience in which you would want people to experience the food is also an art. It requires precision, planning, sourcing the right materials, music, colours, right down to the perfect salt shakers. Some of the joy of great food is experienced due to the overall experience, and ambience plays a huge role in that.
Knowing how to mix the various things on your plate is also an art. The salad leaves must be eaten with the dressing, the beans with the sausages, and the cheese with the olives. Only then do you get to experience the full riot of flavours in your mouth.
Eating habits also make a huge difference to the overall experience of food. The interesting thing is that with the different cultures in the world something acceptable in one country could be a total no-no in another. For e.g. we wouldn't think twice about putting our fork in our mouth but in Thailand it is considered rude. We'd hate for the slurpy sound to come out while eating noodles but in Japan it is a complement to the chef.
The arts in India have lost a lot, gained a lot and ultimately changed a lot. It is time for India to go through its own restoration period because the well of talent that exists in this country is beyond conception. Serendipity Art Festival 2016 in Goa is an attempt to revive the patron culture in the arts, in India. The organisers have brought together some of the most amazing people, from chefs, musicians, painters, actors, designers and more for an 8 day explosion of creativity starting December 16. This will be one great reason to visit Goa this December.
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