Tasting the Difference: A Relational-Epistemic Approach to Aesthetic Collaboration in Haute Cuisine

Abstract

Collaboration during aesthetic production is inherently complex, involving difficult-to-articulate aspects of aesthetic judgement as well as relational questions that are inherently power-laden. Particularly in situations where actors do not share background conditions or judgement criteria, aesthetic collaboration poses conceptual and practical challenges. Through an in-depth case study of a French haute cuisine programme in Shanghai, China, we propose a relational-epistemic approach to aesthetic collaboration, in which aesthetic judgement and relational positioning mutually shape how chef trainees come to understand their creative products. Specifically, aesthetic collaboration was shaped by whether participants understood their mutual relationships as antagonistic or integrative, and whether they considered aesthetics as a matter of objective knowledge, cultural tradition or co-construction. Based on our results, we explore the implications of the relationalepistemic approach in understanding organizational aesthetics, especially in the context of the culture industries and haute cuisine specifically.

Entrepreneurial imagining: How a small team of arts entrepreneurs created the world’s largest traveling carillon

“…As this case shows, stubbornness, desire, and even foolishness are powerful forces in making a difference for the future (Hjorth, 2014). We encourage further work at the intersection of organization studies and art, to explore how entrepreneuring and organizing also unfold through processes of transformation (Scherdin & Zander 2011), aesthetic collaboration (Louisgrand & Islam, 2021), and artful play (Hjorth et al, 2018). Some limitations suggest other directions for research.…”

“…Specifically, entrepreneurial imagining can inform burgeoning efforts to explore non-discursive modalities in organization studies (Boxenbaum et al, 2018;Moser, Reinecke, den Hond, Svejenova, & Croidieu, 2021). By being open to seeing, touching, tasting, and moving in organizational phenomena (Louisgrand & Islam, 2021), researchers can theorize about various ways in which material, visual, and sensory stimuli inform organizational life. Yet up to this point, the primary focus has been on modes in-the-flesh, not modes in-the-mind or in-the-spirit, even though these different modes might inform one another.…”

“…We explore how they engage imagining to generate new possibilities for the future; despite economic precariousness, they exhibit resilience and disrupt well-instituted contexts through a process of actualizing imagined ideas (Parkkari & Verduijn, 2019). This view acknowledges entrepreneuring and organizing in creative industries as unfolding processes that shape and are shaped by an existing social order (Louisgrand & Islam, 2021). Furthermore, we take a radical processual approach (Hjorth et al, 2015) rooted in contextualism-a non-mechanistic worldview that highlights dynamism, relationality, interconnectedness, and novelty (Chiles et al, 2010a)-to tackle the difficult question of how entrepreneurs imagine and generate novelty in response to context (Hjorth, 2013).…”

Haute cuisine three-star restaurants’ representation on websites and dining guides: a lexicometric analysis

“…In their kitchens, elite chefs search, recombine and innovate, using unusual techniques and ingredients and, to enhance their image and reputation, set trends and stand out in the market. They also refine the aesthetics and design of their dishes to add symbolic value to their creations (Leschziner, 2010; Petruzzelli and Savino, 2014; Louisgrand and Islam, 2021). Braun and Ilh (2013) highlight how chefs perceive themselves as the main source and drivers of culinary innovations; they have their own perception of culinary improvement (Leschziner, 2010).…”

“…Gault and Millau accused Michelin of focusing too narrowly on wealth, the dishes of a particular location or the cleanliness of restaurants, initiating a counter-movement to the Michelin star system and provoking substantial resistance from which a rivalry emerged (Byrkjeflot et al , 2013). According to them, culinary excellence was not linked to the wealthy appearance of a restaurant or its dishes, but instead to its taste, aesthetics and chefs’ innovation (Lane, 2013; Louisgrand and Islam, 2021). This innovation (Presenza et al , 2017) is an important entrepreneurial feature for financial performance throughout the hospitality industry (Kallmuenzer, 2018).…”