AESTHETICS AND ELEGANCE 

Dostoevsky tells us that beauty will save the world.
I will try to briefly analyze the ability to experience beauty even if I don't want to save the world. But I tried to think about what aesthetics is, the sphere to which beautiful and ugly belong, from the point of view of some philosophers to draw parallels with some points inherent in the culinary art and to do so I started from Hume . In short, I tried to learn aesthetics from some philosophers to establish parallels with the culinary art and understand aesthetics, falling once again into gastrophilosophy.

We are all unable to know how to transform the judgment on beauty (or ugliness) into a universally objective judgment formula. Beauty therefore is not a quality of things but exists only in the mind that contemplates them and therefore in the eyes of the beholder. As Leibniz argued, speaking of professionals who practice aesthetics for a living, we can be able to quibble about technique. But the technique alone does not make any work, included in gastronomy, a masterpiece of aesthetics. Beauty is never just technique.

Emanuel Kant spoke of necessary beauty and to give an example of the art of plating, when we see a dish we will have the faculty to judge by approving or disapproving the arrangement of the various elements according to a criterion of subjective taste, expressing a judgment because we have a knowledge of matter.

Also for this reason I have put a little book of mine on the art of plating, freely downloadable on the site. The judgment I express is subjective (not universally valid) but I try to express it in such a way as to be necessarily valid, that is, with a knowledge of the subject. And I hope I succeeded.
Through practice it is possible to improve our ability to judge something good or bad, for example by attending museums, concerts, art exhibitions. Conversely, if we have not had experience with the greats in art history we would never be able to judge one correctly. An art expert must be accustomed to observing aesthetics. A  professional Chef is not an art expert but can benefit from it.

Dorfles, Italian art critic and philosopher, defines the incessant wavering of our aesthetic tastes. In fact, art in constant evolution corresponds to a changing, wavering taste, oscillating between facility and novelty.
In the culinary field, how often when faced with dishes with their own aesthetic representation do you hear criticism because you prefer the facility of a traditional dish? How often do we see dishes with their excessive aesthetic representation? How often do we see fake artistic representations which are instead the worst stylistic imitation, which end up falling into kitsch?
I believe that the word elegance is necessary or to put it like Kant, the necessary elegance exists.
Elegance is a common concept in fashion, art and literature, but also in philosophy and science.
Elegance or grace is the quality or the set of qualities has certain qualities combined with simplicity, revealing care and good taste without falling into excessive refinement.
I will give my version referring to a book by a well-known French writer, because elegance is also mystery. Elegance does not appear but rather is hidden. And in fact one of her books is entitled "The elegance of the hedgehog". Incidentally she is also the author of “Culinary Ecstasy”.
I will make some quotes from people considered elegant or who have had to do with elegance, trying to group them by reason. Eventually we will see that, for example, elegance is first of all an internal attitude and not something external. Elegance in case it exteriorizes. So I will try to put together many concepts on elegance in one regarding the art of gastronomy, but not only.

Philosophy and gastronomy intersect once again. Considerations for young professionals and for those attending a haute cuisine academy, without forgetting those who would like to open a restaurant. This too is gastrophilosophy, or philosophy of cooking.

Below you can download a free handout, saving or printing it.