Before I start my glorification and admiration for the art of cooking, you should all take a few minutes to watch the following video about how a three-star Michelin restaurant turns a ordinary fruit strawberry into an art work.
If you don't know what a three-star Michelin restaurant is, you definitely need to do your homework before taking a food course. The Michelin guide awards one to three stars to a small number of restaurants of outstanding quality and a rare three stars are awarded to restaurants offering "exceptional cuisine, worth a special journey."
Some people say cooking is chemistry. I agree. That's the logical way to look at the nature of cooking, making a meal out of mixing up materials and heating and cooling. Eating, too. But emotionally, I feel that food is an art. It has nothing to do with the decorations on the outside. You don't need to make the food particularly pretty to turn it into an artistic work. It's the passion behind it. When you have the curiosity and excitement for cooking, you will have the motive to explore the magic of cooking, and that's where the innovation comes from.
I do believe that food has the magical power to control your emotions, as long as you know how to taste and enjoy the food. There is a huge difference between "taste" and "eat". When you simply eat it, it becomes a functionary material to support the body and keep it running. Tasting, however, requires you to take time to taste the texture of the food, the particular mix of flavor, and the feeling of the food sliding along your throat. The food, then, will further slide into your heart and provoke the emotion.
So, don't think of making the food an artistic work a redundant and unnecessary job. It's like the makeup for the food. You could use your full imagination to explore, to invent, and to turn your passion into a dish on the table.
