Aesthetics of Food Masterfully Crafted by “Chef” : The Relationship Between Language and Construction of Sign Value in Food Magazines

Abstract

The objective of this article was to study the use of language to assign sign value to foods and restaurants through “chefs” in recommended casual dining and fine dining restaurant sections from 3 magazines -- Maeban, Gourmet & Cuisine and Health & Cuisine, between January – December 2015 issues using the Critical Discourse Analysis framework and the notion of the consumption of sign value. The findings show that the magazines use language as an important tool to construct and assign sign value to foods and restaurants by constructing and presenting "chefs” as professionals who have the experience, skills and career success leading to construction of sign value as the ones crafting “aesthetics” for not only foods but also restaurants. Through lexical selection, presupposition, rewarding and sentence structures showing logical relationships, food consumption crafted by professional chefs has the ability to give oneself “aesthetic pleasure” which is a sign value at the same time.