Eljay Dickins, our featured artist last week, has produced a cookery book full of delicious recipes using ingredients easily found in Turkish groceries and markets on the Aegean coast. It is a delightful mixture of art and food. This made me wonder whether artists make good cooks.
Art is about capturing an essence - so is cookery.
Cooking is mixing - so is art.
Artists work with textures and colours, so do cooks.
We eat with our eyes. . A cook has to create a visual which will tempt us to taste. An artist similarly creates a picture which will draw us in to look deeper.
BAC's own Sarah Carter illustrated a very successful cookery book; 'Secrets of the Turkish Kitchen' written by Bodrum resident Angie Mitchell. I can remember getting my first copy and being as fascinated by the pictures as the recipes.
When I was cooking full time, a basket full of vegetables was too luscious to just peel and dice, I had to record them in watercolour too, so the notice board in my kitchen was full of sketches rather than shopping lists.
My professional cooking days are over and I can honestly say it is a relief - a cook puts everything into one meal which is devoured in minutes - nothing left on the plate to witness the effort put in. At least with my artwork, once finished and framed it lasts for a lifetime, which leads to the question why are so many folk prepared to pay more for a meal than an original work of art?
Answers to our Instagram or Facebook pages please.
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