If the taste of food is subjective, are judges necessary in a food competition?

[HawkPerception]

And do you think there would be a more accurate way of assessing people's dishes?

Yes

No

[NewgodOmega]

They are not judges they are actors they are acting
Trust me if someone would eat the food the so called judges makes 90 percent people would abuse them worst Then the judges do to the contestants
Its all a show and the humans have become sadist enough that we enjoy watching a person abusing another powerless person in the worst possible way.
If they would do the same in a chef school the students would murder their teacher rip them apart and eat Them raw
This is just a show every word you hear is scripted and they take multiple shot of the abuse scenes they show the one where the performance is best
They sell hate and we buy hate

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

Subjectivity is why judges are needed in such a competition.

If it's not subjective like the 100m dash, we don't need judges since whoever makes it first to the finish line wins.

It's specifically when something is subjective that judges are required.

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

As for a more accurate way, I don't think we can for complete dishes since there are just too many criteria being balanced against each other, and it's a careful balance (not simple like a higher value in one dimension means better dish, it's more like each value in each dimension is carefully weighed against each other).

We could probably turn it into something more objective for a simple task like who can cook a soft-boiled egg the fastest with near-perfect consistency, being evaluated on time and consistency. An AI might even be able to do that in the future and judge with perfect consistency for each contestant.

[GuyAnswersGirls123]

Generally I think subjective realms do still tend to exhibit strong trends that attract wider audiences or more deeply attract select audiences. That's generally what I suspect judges are trying to evaluate is broad or deep appeal from a marketing standpoint by aligning with trends, and there are usually enough trends at least in a particular society that the evaluation from multiple competent judges reaching a consensus can reasonably evaluate the likelihood of this broad or deep appeal (not perfectly for sure, but reasonably).

There are also typically a lot of objective criterion which, if violated without a very deliberate intent, will typically lead to an inferior product. For example, breaking continuity in film will universally have the effect on all audiences of making the film relatively more difficult to follow, so unless that's a very intentional effect by the filmmaker to mislead the audience (possibly for a humorous effect), it can be considered inferior in most cases when unintended without having to rest on the film critic's own tastes.

On the flip side, I really enjoy Uwe Boll's House of the Dead and find it unintentionally hilarious with all the continuity breaks. 😅 So even something that violates even criterion which undeniably introduces flaws into a product might still be loved by a weirdo like me. Still, I think it's fair when critics trash such a film and rightly estimate that it'll flop, which it did.

[BCA6010]

Subjectivity is exactly why you need a panel of judges, ideally with a diverse range of relevant expertise for such a competition.

You don't need a judge just to determine what does or doesn't taste good to you. I will say for example that I have never had a spaghetti Carbonara anywhere (including in Italy) that could compete with my mom's recipe, yet she doesn't run a restaurant (and furthermore despises cooking). I guarantee however that not everyone would share my verdict on that.

[BonzoInBitburg]

Taste, texture, technique, creativity and presentation are all part of food judging. Also, judges can put aside their personal tastes and judge the food based on the flavor balance

[HawkPerception]

Have you watched master chef at all? A lot of the time, especially in preliminaries, they judge based on taste alone.

[BonzoInBitburg]

I watch a lot of cooking competition shows. Preliminaries are just weeding out bad cooks. Those judges aren't picky eaters and are accomplished chefs so they know what to look for

[HawkPerception]

You're saying Gordon Ramsay is not a picky eater?

[BonzoInBitburg]

He's not a picky eater. He's a picky judge

[HawkPerception]

Bro... lol... you definitely have not watched Master Chef. Every judge is picky and they'll happily spit your food out if it's not to their taste

[BonzoInBitburg]

It's a tv show, they only do that for entertainment.

[NathanDavis]

yes... a judge's job is to be as most objective as possible on the subjective matter

that's the whole point of it

[HawkPerception]

Okay, but when judges disagree and one thinks the food is terrible and another thinks it's amazing (which happens often), what then? That's the opposite of objective.

[NathanDavis]

that's why you have different factors to judge on... in the case of cooking TV

there's taste, there's skill, there's creativity, there's presentation... and there's precedents

so the consensus is a balance of these... the most objective balance, possible

[NathanDavis]

and the Supreme Courts works similarly... that's why they have an even number of judges because there's voting

[HawkPerception]

The question is about taste.

[NathanDavis]

same answer applies... the most objective solution is to have a vote

the Supreme Court does it... Ramsey does it

that's objective on the subjective

[virtualwasp]

i would rather go with gordon ramsey than rachel from friends and her trifle that she never questioned

[strateguy632]

need judges to balance each other. for your reason one not enough because subjective

[laly520]

they dont judge only the taste but many other things such as aesthetic of it

[HawkPerception]

I'm aware. They judge on the method of cooking, whether it has the right cook, and what kinds of ingredients were used, but they also judge on taste, which is very subjective and the matter of this question

[laly520]

it is but do they care much if its fair or not? nope

[HawkPerception]

And that's why I asked this question 😂

[laly520]

especially the one u have in pic lol he is horrible

[Yannae]

Judges are needed. How many times has a participant put food out where it's still raw? Customers could die from this.

[LaurenM1997]

They have to be honest and tell the truth or else they wouldn’t be able to a judge

[stark04]

What does competition mean to you?