Is a chef an artist?

I think so. Some chefs take their work to truly aesthetic heights. I would not want to deny them the title of “artist.”

Yes, in my opinion. Plating can be seen as a from of art.

They don’t call it the culinary arts fer nuthin’.

I don’t think that just simply being a chef makes a person an artist, but some chefs are definitely artists, because they’ve come up with something truly original and delicious, or they have a talent to present food in an amazing/beautiful/exciting manner.

A chef that works at Denny’s probably wouldn’t qualify as an artist, but someone like Bobby Flay probably could be.

If you ever had truly great food you’d consider them artists.

A title can be given by anyone or any establishment. I think there are creative chefs who do so much more than just cook. Some of their work is artistic. Thus – they are artists.

Cooking is an art form. It is balancing out chemical reactions to create the optimum taste and aeroma. Serving is set up with emphasis on color and composition. Truly an art form.

I also think coding is an art form. Creating castles out of keystrokes.

This question made think of something else. If you ever get a chance to experience the world’s best practioners of anything do it. Doesn’t matter whether it’s chefs, art, tennis, equestrian, etc. If you see the world’s best, it’s amazing.

I think so, yes.

Most of the chefs I know (and I know a lot of them) would self-identify more readily as craftsmen than as artists. They would tend to find the word artist too pretentious (I’ve heard it used in a derisive way in the kitchen).

I have a hard time myself knowing where craftsmanship ends and artistry begins, but still, there does seem to be something to the distinction. Maybe it has to do with whether the emphasis is on the materials or the idea. Maybe an artist puts her materials in service to the idea or emotion she wants to evoke, whereas the craftsman remains more interested in exploring the potentials of his materials.

If we accept that breakdown, I’d say that most chefs are materials oriented, therefore craftsmen.

Absolutely! I have an old friend that is a pastry chef and she took her “art” very seriously, sometimes making the same cheesecake or pastry dough multiple times, until it meshed with her taste and vision.
There is an element of art in many things. I designed a patio a few years ago and landscaped it, it came out amazingly cool, I considered that to be a work of art.

Anything created from passion, creativity and innovative spirit IS art!

Yes in a general sense but no in the professional world. By in the professional world I mean in the sense of what college considers art as well as businesses. The culinary world is a form of art, but at the same time they are there own governors of what is good and not good. For instance, a student studying Fine Arts wouldn’t be taken into consideration of becoming a full time critic on a panel for the culinary world by the culinary world in regards to his or her professional merits and achievements. (At least not without being recognized as an accomplished chef already) And the same goes with a chef. A chef wouldn’t have what it takes to judge a Fine Arts Piece and be on board a professional and experienced Art Judge Panel. Now it’s not to say that one cannot appreciate the other. They just exist differently as separate entities. In the general sense everything has an art form. However in the sense that we live in a world that requires a set of skills to perform a certain job, separate entities are required for specialization.

Yes.

Well most chefs hold a paintbrush at one point or another. :p Knives have been called the chef’s paintbrush. If a chef is talented, they are an artist. If a butcher is talented they are an artist.

Art is the way of doing something with poignant proficiency.

Of course.

The culinary arts stimulate all five senses. You see how it’s plated. You can hear the meat sizzle. You can smell it. When you put it in your mouth, you know how it tastes, and you feel it for its sense of texture. I can’t think of any other art form that has the ability to stimulate all five senses. From that perspective, perhaps creative chefs are more legitimate artists than painters or sculptors.