Is a Chef an Artist?

A chef can be an artist just like a musician or a painter is.  However, a chef can combine the use of visual and culinary art to make their food.  Many chefs in fancy restaurants are seen displaying dishes that have all of this fancy decorations around them.  in this case, even without eating the meal, you can see that the chef did a good job.  Also, when you taste the food, the chef manages to combine unique flavors to create the final product.  This is why in Babette's Feast, Babette is able to make her food look good, as well as taste good.  She put nearly as much time into preparing the actual food as she did preparing the way the food would be displayed.