BRATTLEBORO — Five local culinary artists will participate in a panel discussion entitled “Food as Artistic Expression” at the Brattleboro Museum & Art Center on Thursday, Jan. 17, at 7 p.m. Admission is free.
Panelists Erin Bevan of the Four Columns Inn, Sharon Myers of Sharon Myers Fine Catering, Cai Silver of Dim Sum Tea House and Catering, and John Singer and Dar Tavernier of Tavernier Chocolates are well-known not only for their gastronomic delights but for their aesthetic sensibilities as well.
Each will bring samples to share with the audience.
The aesthetics of food presentation have interested philosophers, artists, and food creators at least since the first century A.D., when Roman gourmand Apicius purportedly said, “We eat first with our eyes.”
Today, a growing body of evidence from the field of neuroscience is revealing the truth behind this aphorism. For example, it has been suggested that humans' ability to see color evolved as a means of identifying energy-rich food.
Wendell Berry, the poet, novelist, and agrarian writer and theorist, said of food and aesthetic experience that “eating with the fullest pleasure ... is perhaps the profoundest enactment of our connection with the world."
For more information, call 802-257-0124 or visit www.brattleboromuseum.org.