art...work....

   In the final days of Dale Chihuly's glass blowing exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts, I thought it pertinent to discuss the influences between art and food.  I went to the exhibit recently and was amazed at some of the works of art Chihuly displays, many of them themed around nature.  Certainly an extravagant example of nature but nature nonetheless.  It got me thinking about...well food to be quite honest.

   Often times in the kitchen we draw from nature for inspiration on food.  How things go together in natured definites how they should go together on a plate.  Marco Pierre White spoke of serving woodcock with huckleberries because thats what they eat.  Those flavors already course throughout the birds body and create a natural pairing; an implicit flavor profile.  This is art.

  We also derrive many of our presentations, from nature with the guest response "its so beautiful I dont want to eat it!"  But they must!  Thes best technique Ive found in plating food is to present the food as it was in nature, as it should be.  Just as Dale Chihuly presents glass as nature, we present food as nature.  I was contemplating this thought in conjunction with our beet salad at Tastings last night.  On an elongated plate the roasted beets are covered with wheat berries and baby greens.  Through these greens you can see bits and pieces of the beautifully colored beets, as if they were just peaking from the earth.  This is art.

    It was interesting to see Chihulys garden "plated" on an elongated surface, glass growing naturally from the "earth" as it were.  vines, flowers, rocks were all present.  At the end an overwhelmingly powerful piece of glass to show the strenth of this "wild garden".  And the beauty of this piece was all natural; pulled from reality as gardens grow.

    In the end I think this idea of art mimicking nature, food mimicking nature, and art and food mimicking eachother leads to the comfort that food will always be here.  No matter what, food is nature, food is art, and food is passion, and at our core these are three things we need.  It is part of being social; it is part of being associated with a culture. 

   The next time you find yourself in a restaurant with a beautiful plate in front of you.  EAT IT.  thats what its there for as nature intended!