Jelly Cake by Siew Boon. Design Swan
Dish by Anne-Sophie Pic. MICHELIN Guide
Dish by Grant Achatz. Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants
Toad Cake by Natalie Sideserf. Youtube
When asked what cooking is, you’re bound to get many different answers. Some say that cooking is a science, with a chef’s job as precise and detail-oriented as a chemist’s may be. Others say that cooking is a craft, and a chef’s primary job is to create something through technique and hard work. But others might argue that cooking is a different thing altogether: an art.
There are many reasons why one might argue that food could be an art form in and of itself. For one, cooking is tied to creativity. There is no right way to cook something; new and exciting combinations are constantly being discovered and perfected, and high-tier chefs have specific and recognizable styles, much like artists do. Cooking, like art, is also subjective: one person might enjoy post-impressionist painting and pad thai, while another might prefer abstract expressionism and escargot. Lastly, cooking is emotive. Smell and taste are strongly linked to our brain’s memory, and that’s the reason why we sometimes turn to a specific food for comfort or celebration. Food can energize, to surprise, to confuse, and to disgust, just like art does. A good cook should be able to create dishes that evoke the key aspects of art.
There are many chefs, bakers, and patissiers whose works could fall under the category of art, but here are four notable examples of creative and talented chefs and bakers who take their culinary creations to the next level:
Grant Achatz
World-renowned American chef and restaurateur Grant Achatz is known for his modernist style. His dishes are inventive, artistic, and break the mold. His Chicago restaurant, Aliena, holds three Michelin stars and was named one of the top fifty restaurants in the world. Although Achatz is a large proponent of molecular gastronomy—the study of the chemical transformations of ingredients during food preparation—his dishes are often inspired by his experiences with art: “I might be listening to a particular song, and hear a drastic tempo change, and that might generate an idea for a dish … I might be walking through an art gallery and see a particular texture or a particular form; that might inspire something … It’s just endless. It just comes from everywhere.”
Siew Boon
Sydney-based food artist Siew Boon’s signature creations are her elaborate jelly cakes, where she creates realistic 3D sculptures of flowers, fish, birds, and much more. Boon founded her company Jelly Alchemy in 2017 to bring jelly cakes to Sydney. Since then, Boon has taught several classes about the art of jelly cake making. Her lychee and coconut-flavored creations take up to four hours to complete, and the results are stunning. Her work can be found on her Instagram page, @siewheng83.
Anne-Sophie Pic
Coming from a family of chefs, Anne-Sophie Pic’s artistic culinary skills lie not in the aesthetics of her dishes (although they are beautiful), but in the taste. Pic is famous for her ability to find unique and surprisingly effective flavor combinations, such as beets and coffee, and venison and candied grapefruit. Pic boasts ten Michelin stars and was the fourth woman to achieve a rating of three Michelin stars for her family restaurant, Maison Pic.
Natalie Sideserf
Internet-famous cake maker Natalie Sideserf’s hyper realistic 3D cakes will have you questioning what is real and what is cake. In 2014, Food Network called Sideserf “one of the most talented young cake artists in the country at the forefront of realistic cake decorating.” The subjects of her hyperrealistic sculpture cakes range from the mundane (like onions) to the adorable (baby Yoda) to the grotesque (human heart). Sideserf has almost 300,000 followers on Instagram and over 900,000 followers on TikTok. See her hyperrealistic creations on her Instagram page, @nataliesideserf.