Aesthetics for civilisation via food and art

Mark Chu is a polymath with whom we’re thrilled to be working. Here, he introduces his article on the relationship between food and art:

Fine dining is not fine merely for its food, its environs, or its clientele. The meaning institutions convey to the public is what makes institutions an institution, not automatic machines for hollow trends. Nouri is ambitious in its raison d’etre, and makes intellectual assertions about food history. What Nouri calls crossroads cooking harks on the well-researched but counterintuitive position that popular dishes often have multiple cultural origins. Their plates of food mirror their academic realisations. This engagement with more contemplative dining experience heightens the range of emotions present at the modern dining table. Naturally, ebullience and belonging are at the heart of a radiant shared eating experience. But the suggestion of education and— even more fundamentally—curiosity is a promising sign for the paradigm of fine dining. Food aesthetics and food ethics are one and the same; Nouri informs by setting an example.

You can read his full piece here.