The French peasant cuisine is at the basis of the culinary art. By this I mean it is composed of honest elements that la grande cuisine only embellishes.

Here is an entire institute devoted to glorifying the art of cooking,

French and Italian cooking have been elevated to a really high art form.

[In] Julie & Julia ... Mastering the Art of French Cooking.

Spices are like colors: if you mix them all together you get a taste that is akin to the colors black, dark brown, or grey. But if you mix spices judiciously and sparingly—as you would mix yellow and blue to make green—you get a wholly unexpected and beautiful flavor.

You are perfectly right in objecting to them [modern art], for this one great fault - that they have not yet had time to become old.