The Creative Culinary Process: Constructing and Extending a Four-Component Model

Abstract

This study looked at the relation between a culinary artist's (or chef's) invisible creative process and his or her creative performance (manifest actions and products). Beginning with Wallas's (1926) classic model of a 4-phase creative process—idea preparation, idea incubation, idea development, and verification of the new work's creativity—as modified by Amabile, Finke et al., it was hypothesized that (a) the creative culinary process (CCP) comprises these 4 phases; (b) these 4 phases (or subprocesses) of the CCP have an impact on one another that is both positive and cumulative; and (c) the entire CCP has a direct, positive, cumulative impact on the artist's culinary performance. A conceptual model was then developed, one that extended the modified model of Wallas so that, in addition to process, it also included performance. Then this model was used to explore the interrelationships among the 4 phases of the CCP and creative culinary performance and to test the 3 hypotheses. Within certain limits, these hypotheses were shown to be valid. The results of this study have clear implications for the understanding and promoting of creativity, not only in the culinary arts, but in all arts.

This research was supported by National Science Council, Taiwan (ROC).

Notes

N = 669. Values in parentheses are Cronbach α's.