There are many mediums and forms of art worth pursuing and appreciating, but when most people think about “art,” they think about paintings or sculptures. What about forms of art that are less classically appreciated, like cooking? Can we consider cooking to be a form of art? And if so, how do we better appreciate it?

The Trouble With Defining Art
The Oxford English Dictionary has several competing definitions of “art,” including the most basic, “Skill; its display or application” and the more nuanced, “The application of skill to subjects of taste, as poetry, music, dancing, the drama, oratory, literary composition, and the like.”

It’s hard to argue against the idea that cooking is a “subject of taste.” As such, we can consider cooking to be an art form under the strictest definition. But there are a few more subtleties to explore before we make a definitive assessment.

One of the most important things to recognize is that art is, by definition, subjective. Different people can make very different interpretations of the same work of art; shouldn’t they also be capable of making different opinions about whether or not an object is art?

The Best and Worst of Culinary Arts

Let’s imagine two different cooking scenarios.
In the first, an individual buys a massive outdoor pizza oven to get the classic wood-fired taste of “true” pizza. They train for years to perfect the art of pizza making. They create the dough entirely from scratch, procure the best mozzarella cheese they can find, make their own sauce, and put together what they feel is the perfect pizza. It takes them all day, it looks beautiful, and it’s completely unable to be replicated; it’s a one-of-a-kind dish.

In the second, an individual takes leftover pizza from a national chain, cuts it up into pieces, and lazily throws it into a pan of scrambled eggs.

Are these both considered art?

Are neither of these considered art?
Unless you’re a total purist, you’d probably acknowledge that one of these scenarios is inherently more “artistic” than the other. It’s similar to the difference between painting a room of your house and producing a painting of beautiful natural scenery; both require the act of painting, but only one of them is considered a form of art.

Variables That Can Elevate Cooking to an Art Form

Let’s dig in a bit deeper. What are the specific variables that allow us to distinguish between art and non-art in the realm of cooking?

· Intentionality. What’s the difference between music and sound? Depending on who you ask, you might find different answers, but most music experts agree that it comes down to organization. Some people might assert that music is a pleasant sound, while noise is an unpleasant sound, but there's plenty of sophisticated music that sounds unpleasant on purpose, to evoke a specific emotion. Accordingly, the only thing that truly differentiates music from sound is the intentionality of the person making the noise. When a musician deliberately organizes sound with the purpose of creating art, they become an artist. If someone accidentally or incidentally makes noise without the intention of creating art, they are not an artist. This principle holds true for chefs and amateur foodies as well.

· Purpose. What is the purpose of the creation? If you slap some food together for the sole purpose of relieving your hunger, with no regard for ingredient combinations, cooking techniques, or presentation, it's a stretch to call yourself an artist. But if you're creating a culinary dish that's designed to look and taste amazing, regardless of its capacity to fill your stomach, you drift into art territory.

· Creativity and originality. We also need to consider creativity and originality. In our pizza example, the pizza scrambled egg creator isn't regarded as an artist because they didn't add much creativity or originality; they simply bought a pizza that already existed and did something new to it rather than creating the pizza or its constituent ingredients from scratch.

· Presentation. Cooking automatically becomes more of an art when chefs and creators put effort into presentation. At this point, food addresses more than just taste or nutrition; it becomes a full experience.

· Criticism. Art can exist without critics to analyze it, but with so many discerning critics in the culinary world, it’s hard to argue that cooking isn’t an art form at the highest level.

There’s no truly objective and concise answer to the titular question. Cooking can definitely be an art form, but it doesn’t have to be – and there are certainly some cooking applications that most people wouldn’t consider art. Ultimately, it boils down to factors like intentionality, creativity, and presentation – just like it does with any other art form.