Is gastronomy a medium for artistic expression? The problem of consumption and the purported asymmetry between aesthetic judgments and judgments of personal preference

Abstract

This paper defends that gastronomy is a medium for artistic expression. It explores two arguments frequently used to defend that gastronomy is not an artistic medium: the problem of consumption and the asymmetry between aesthetic judgments and judgments of personal preference. The former defends that gastronomy and fine arts are fundamentally distinct because their products have very different characteristics. The latter defends that aesthetic judgments and judgments of personal preference differ in that the former are intersubjectively valid, while the latter are only subjectively valid. The paper counters the first argument by suggesting that accepting the problem of consumption leads to an undesirable consequence: the exclusion of certain art forms that are integral to artistic practice. In response to the second argument, the paper contends that empirical evidence from different sources suggests that the asymmetry between aesthetic judgments and judgments of personal preference fails to hold true in numerous contexts.