Food Art - A long history -- and a long time coming

 Its no secret that the Greeks and Romans used fruits and vegetables in their art dating back centuries ago, trying to perfect their depiction of a live object and turn it into an artistic interpretation of it. Historians have even found fruit drawn on the walls of the tombs of the Egyptians, in the hopes they would be fed in the afterlife and these drawings would somehow provide nutrients in the ever after.  But, amazingly, as the years have passed, food - instead of being the object of art, it has become the art itself.  We see paintings of food in our kitchens, hanging on our walls in our houses today.  Even in my own kitchen at home, I have pictures of pears and peaches up.  I guess its somewhat comforting to us, to have that sense of something familiar around us.


I remember taking a high school art class; one of the first things our teacher wanted us to do was paint a bowl full of fruit onto a canvas; the bowl had bananas, apples, pears, and grapes from what I can remember. I'm not sure if its because growing up we become so familiar with the shapes and colors of things we see in our everyday life that depicting them on a canvas would be the most natural for us on our journey to become an "artist".  Although muddling through the history of the art of food, I could not find the clear transition between the fruit being the object of the art, the model (if you will) to when it, in a way, became the canvas itself.


I've been a foodie all my life.  My mom told me stories of when I was young, about how I didn't care about anything else other than "What's for dinner?" or "What's for breakfast?" She tells me all the time about how I was always worried about breakfast before I even went to sleep at night.  So it goes without saying that the creation of Food Network has absolutely changed my life.  I find myself watching in awe at these culinary artists. They turn food and of all things -- basic fruits and vegetables into all sorts of visions - like landscapes, towers, tiki statues, and any kind of flower or animal you could imagine.

Sugar art and cake art --- now about that, I could go on and on.  These people are so creative.  I want to learn to do EVERYTHING!  I've always dreamed about being two things -- a doctor and a chef.  But to be a chef, to be a baker, a pastry artist, a caterer, learn to do cake sculpting and decorating, sugar art, food/ice carving, I would absolutely adore it!  I want to be a master at everything that I do and especially everything I do in the culinary world, even a historian if it leads me in that direction.  I know, I know - these people are masters and have years of experience and have been practicing to perfect their crafts, but my dream is to be on the Food Network at least one time before I die.

 I have never worked in the restaurant business so I know there is a lot I don't know, but I'm definitely a foodie, so I have the passion to jump start it, if and when I ever get the opportunity.  Where I am though, in Tennessee, there aren't any big-name culinary schools around. I guess its just a dream with all of my health problems doing anything but what I do (working a desk job - even though it IS an important desk job - in the medical field) would be difficult on me physically - but a girl can dream can't she?!  Of course she can.


I am working on writing a family cook book. That is a project I started well over a year ago.  Its so hard getting some of my family members have passed and their secrets went with them and then on the other side of the family, some of the folks are non-cooperative and its emotionally exhausting.  I am going to keep writing it though and I want to eventually finish the project.
The only two people that have really contributed to my cookbook are my mom and my grandmother (her mother).  So there, in a nutshell will be three generations of tips, contributions, cooking secrets, and family recipes.

My grandmother is the matriarch of our family and the glue that has kept us together all of these years and if I can complete it and its successful, it'll almost be like a piece of her is with us and will be us forever, even after she is gone. The project itself has always been very important to me. It doesn't matter to me if it gets published, I just want everyone to have a piece of her and a piece of me. My grandmother and I have always bumped heads I guess because we were both head-strong women and we are so much alike.  Although the one thing that has always kept us together is cooking and recipes, here we are -- back to the heart of everything -- food.  I want so much to carry on the traditions that she has instilled so deep within us.  I'm not sure how other families do it, but when we have our family get-togethers, everyone brings whatever dish they are known for and each person has their specialty.  I am always known for my desserts and my Sugar Free Carrot Cake - recipe located on my food blog here where I have some of my recipes and some of my favorites.



This photo (watermelon basket) was an actual photo of my own food art!  I made this fruit basket for my sister's 30th birthday.  I carved it with a paring knife.  She was so proud of it she has kept the photo of it for well over a year.  I am so excited about food and have such a passion for it, that I just have so much that I want to do and am so overwhelmed at times that I don't know where to start -- so I started here.  A foodie blog.  We'll see where this takes me shall we?  I'd love to even be a food critic in my local area --- that would be AWESOME!!  I know there is so much I need to learn but I'm willing.