Instructions
Art, even in its earliest beginnings, has always been concerned with food. In spite of the gnostic or spiritual implications we now attribute to cave paintings, most ancient artworks were images of animals. Animals of prey.
Bison and bears, barramundi and birds, these first artists recorded life in its most elementary and important stage – the act of sourcing and preparing food. Many cultures also imputed religious or metaphysical stories into their paintings, but this came later. At their heart all these depictions were celebrations of the manner in which the artist’s community survived, often against great odds.
Flash forward several thousand years, and acquiring food is no longer the great struggle it once was, at least not for the half of the world’s population to which we belong. The greatest threat to our continued ability to secure a meal lies not in identifying the source from which it might be obtained (the neon signs are a giveaway), but rather in finding a parking spot for our vehicle – this is now the central object of our hunt.
In making this transition from tenuous survival to an overabundance of foods, we have also re-ordered the relationship between food and art. As the agricultural revolution (and then the Industrial revolution) transformed large tacts of land into bulk-producing food factories, we were freed from need and latched onto desires.
Most of our foods today are designed to please rather then feed us. As the key nutritional role of food is now so readily achieved, we want entertainment in its place. And so food has become art. From the plethora of TV food shows championing ever-more indulgent and decorative cuisines, to the myriad magazines each competing to plump and please you or trim and titillate you, to the hundreds of beautiful cookbooks released each year, we are surrounded by a cacophony of caloric consumption.
But sometimes, in the quiet moments between the roar of edible advocacy, you can take time to admire the beauty of the true art that is being created in the name of food. Whether it is the extraordinary skills of our greatest chefs who craft and coddle their favoured ingredients into miniature frescos on the finest ceramics. Or perhaps it is the manner in which talented photographers and stylists capture the essence of great entertaining in their elegant and sumptuous images.
But for me, the finest food art lies in a tradition that began in Holland during the Middle Ages. It’s a simple but delicious spiced biscuit called speculaas, made by pressing dense dough into carved moulds before baking. They’re a great Christmas tradition and a wonderful way to spend time with your kids. You’ll find speculaas moulds for sale online.
Speculaas