Is there an intersection between the way food and design are percieved? Is the process of cooking similar to the process of designing?

Many questions arise; some are clear some are not. I’ll try to sort through some of these here. More of a sketch for a process of thinking about it really.

First off, trying to draw parallels between food and design.
Connecting the “vibe” of design with the “vibe” of food.

The list of equivalents:
Kmart design (Martha Stewart, etc) = Boston Market chains

Other notes:
The ingredients that make up a dish are like the letters that make up a word. We consume food and we consume words. Ingredients and letters: same and not the same. You can eat a carrot, can you use just an a? Probably yes; there are foods that cannot be eaten witout preparation–addition of other ingredients (seasonings, etc.)– and there are also foods that can be consumed raw. There are letters that can stand on their own as well (a, o, etc.). Perhaps this is a weak argument. Still, there seems something to it.

From typotheque.com:
“...in reality new typefaces are like blank sheets of paper. They can be used to represent anything, and just as paper manufacturers cannot control what is printed on their paper, so type designers can hold no responsibility for what their fonts are used to communicate.”

Letters and ingredients mostly function through “consumption”; as words or as a dish they exist only when someone is reading or eating; the object exists through the respective action. They require a participant, much like art, which exists in the discussion, or absorbtion of a piece.

“...Through mastering proportions, balance and optical corections, the type designer can achieve his aim, be it improved legibility, historical accuracy or originality of expression” (also from typotheque)

How does this relate to cooking; in other words is the process of mastering cooking identical to this?
Is problem solving an aspect of cooking? Possibly, as in trying to figgure out what to feed a family or what to do with the chicken.

Is there a similar urge in cooking as ther is in art? The urge to create, to express oneself? I think so. Is it art then?

Am I drawing a parallel between design and cooking or between type-design and cooking?

The overlap of the Seveneeth-century still-life paintings and the height of Dutch type design.

The leftovers used by designers in their work, much like cooks do.

Examples of the overlaps:
EM=Mutton; EN=Nut; (em and en dash pronunciation)
Emigre font catalog-"Tastemakers”
Food poster from the 1980’s in HoGD book (food imagery)
Pretzel book (Strange Attractors slideshow)
Steve Bowden’s Grill type
Potato printing (Donald Roos)
Twin typeface in chocolate Chocoletters

6:24 pm | July 27, 2005  |  filed in: DESIGN