Is cooking a science or an art ?

Diapo 1

Hello, today we're going to answer the question "is cooking a science or an art ?"

Diapo 2

In an article in the Times, Rick Smith introduces us to the basics of science that can help us in our approach to cooking. He talks about how a chef uses chemistry. According to him, chemistry is all about reactions, particularly during cooking, and of course other chemical reactions occur with food (heat and enzymes, acid and proteins). He also mentions the presence of physics in cooking, which concerns the structure of matter and the transfer of energy. The use of different types of heating is presented, including conduction (direct contact with heat) and radiation (electromagnetic waves). He also discusses the use of biology to understand the composition of food, and the presence of genes, proteins and vitamins in food.

Cooking is chemistry, because mixing and cooking food causes chemical reactions that transform it. To sum up, there's little difference between chemistry and cooking: on the one hand, chemical species are mixed to create a solution; on the other, food is added together to create a dish, especially when cooking. Take the example given in the text: cooking by conduction, where a transformation takes place, such as when an egg cooks in a pan.
There's also cooking by radiation, with electromagnetic waves carrying the heat, as in the case of microwaves.
In both cases, the reaction is due to amino acids reacting with reducing sugars, known as the "Maillard reaction ».

Diapo 3

In an article for The Guardian, Jonathan Jones asks whether food can be art. He looks at the history of art through the ages: in the Middle Ages, art was underdeveloped, there was little subtlety in painting, just as in food, people ate with their fingers. During the Renaissance, art developed, leading to the popularization of salads and tablecloths. He also evokes Leonardo da Vinci's notebooks, which contained conceptual art.

The conclusion of this article is that cooking is an art because cooking gives rise to a form of artistic creativity that some painters draw inspiration from for their paintings. What's more, this goes both ways, with many great chefs being influenced by the art of artists, Then, during the Renaissance, art became more rigorous, as did food: glasses were elegant, plates were used and cutlery became fashionable. Leonardo da Vinci also inspired cooking with his recipes for great chefs, such as replacing the flavors of meat for vegetarians like himself.

After all these reflections, we can conclude that cooking is first and foremost a science, given what we've just seen. It takes a lot of chemical reactions between foods to form a dish, and without all these reactions, cooking wouldn't exist, so culinary art wouldn't exist either, and artists wouldn't be able to draw inspiration from food. Without science, there would be no cooking, and cooking begins with science, whether it's in the making of the dishes or the food, or in the assembly to create culinary art.
In our opinion, cooking is more science than art.