Art Consumer

So I’ve been thinking about combining my cooking which I view as an art with my art that I don’t normally consider to be edible. There is something important to me about food and cooking that isn’t just about nourishment. When I cook for someone I’m not trying to make them feel fulfilled in a literal way. What I’m really interested in is the visceral experience of the participant. I am looking for the uncontrollable expression of pleasure (hopefully) that the experience elicits.

Food and Art are nothing new for me, but recently (in the last 2 years or so) I’ve really been wanting to combine the two. Ever since I learned that Gordon Matta-Clarke was the first in New York to showcase the kitchen in an eatery and to brazenly experiment on his customers.

I’ve been experimenting on friends and family with my cooking for years now (at least 20) and I do it with a measure of knowledge and understanding of how flavors will work together. I put the ingredients together in my mind and taste them there. If they pass that test, I go on to combining the real thing. So what kind of things have I concocted? Well, most people who know me well (in the last 5 years, sorry I haven’t shipped any of these to LA!) have enjoyed my unique and somewhat nostalgic cookie recipes like my Blueberry Chocolate Chip, Ginger Cinnamon Apple, Orange Golden Raisin and Smashed Peanut Cookies. Last year before I discovered two horrible allergies to Barley and Corn I unwittingly made one of my favorite side dishes to date, Parmesan Truffle Vanilla Polenta. Does that sound amazing? It is. So to me this isn’t just about the necessity of cooking and in fact when cooking is reduced down to this bare essential, I sometimes lose interest. It must remain in constant flux for me, teetering on the edge of disaster to be exciting. Nothing ventured, nothing gained. I even found that when I stopped cooking earlier this fall, I lost interest in my other art. I had to get back to cooking to foster the other creative senses that I had. It’s like keeping your mind sharp by exercising or doing puzzles or as many artists do, drawing. I don’t draw and I’ve always been interested but I have only done it on a very infrequent basis. Cooking is a way for me to explore my ideas in one area that is very important to me creatively, opening up pathways in my other creative processes.