Cooking the Search for Meaning

There is something in common about the the different forms of art and design careers: The search for meaning; meaning in the eventual piece of art/design itself as well as what said piece actually means to the artist/designer. Any professional who has taken this search in the art and design fields knows the feeling. It’s like a classic Spanish fan that could keep opening endlessly to show you yet another hidden part, or just another step on the path you’ve decided to take.

Certain careers have been excluded from the official status of art or design throughout history, and some have changed. For instance artisans started being called artists by the end of the nineteenth Century; or Film Making was born as a new career ever since acting started being filmed. As Brian Eno once put it in one of his wonderful talks, that kind of separation didn’t happen with music ever since it started being recorded. Live music and recorded music are both still called music.

There is one very deep career that hasn’t been accounted as a form of art until very recently, although sometimes it still doesn’t: Cooking. If you observe and think about it for a minute, you will realize it is actually the deepest form of art in terms of meaning. It is about nature in all aspects: the earth and soil, the care of it, the color palettes all around, the presentation, the techniques and styles, the traditions and cultures, the world’s climates and ingredients conforming all of the factors that create any other form or piece of art; but most importantly feeding someone from love and for health. Can you really go more meaningful than that?

To accompany this kind of romantic post about cooking, we recommend a very beautiful documentary about Chef Alex Atala from Brazil. Directed by Clay Jeter, it is the second episode of Chef’s Table second season.

Enjoy the flavor of life and be at the center of the flower!

Cheers!!!