"FoodArt" news and stories

As foodies, we're automatically inclined to take every morsel of what's given to us and deposit it right into our mouths. But food is also ripe for art -- not just the Alinea-type awe inspired on the plate, but as ingredients for inedible creations. This week's Foodie Flicks heads to Cooking Up a Story to celebrate the seriously impressive seeds and deets of Portland's Cathy Camper.

When some artist friends decided to enter the Minnesota State Fair's juried arts show, Camper took a different route. She entered the seed art competition, set up to promote the seeds and crops of Minnesota. But she didn't take the tacky route and recreate Elvis or lather her portraits in shtick. She recreated famous figures she was drawn to -- Frida Kahlo, Malcolm X, Che Guevara, Bob Marley and even Haile Selassie. Delighting in the process, Camper explains that the art is not in the end product, but the growth of meeting artistic challenges and finding ways to beat them. And really, that seems to be the only way to do it. As she notes, these funky, food-filled art pieces aren't permanent. Just like any piece of edible fare, they discolor, age and lose their life. But at least for a moment, they're impressive.

Remember those beginner knife skills we learned last week? That was just step one, friends.

Now it's time to get a little more crafty with that blade and morph food into edible garnishes that are artistic triumphs. The video above, courtesy of Howcast, details how to turn produce and chocolate into veritable sculptures.

In a "Wallace & Gromit"-style video, we are shown a few of the super-quick, super-easy ways to make things look snazzier -- orange-wrapped cherries skewered with a toothpick for a cocktail, tiny mushroom curls, a quick tomato skin rose and even sinfully delicious curls of chocolate perfect for a bowl of ice cream.

When food art is this easy, how can you resist?

I'm not the biggest fan of using food in art (unless you or someone else is going to eat it all), but oh, how I love Easter Time. Why? That big ol' bunny we know brings not only the insidiously delicious Mini Eggs, but also The Washington Post's Peeps contest. Did you catch it last year? It asked for shoebox dioramas showing Peeps in different worldly scenarios -- historic, current, or future events. Some were real life (like the peep-o-suction image Marisa shared), some were historical (like Marpeep Antoinette), and some went Hollywood, like the wonderful Reservoir Peeps, or the above Psycho Peeps.

Simply come up with a scene (they say there's possible extra points for punny goodness), create your diorama, get some good photos, and send 'em in by 11:59 PM on March 15. But be sure to keep it in tact. If you're a finalist, the paper will get the diorama picked up for a professional photo shoot before semifinalists and winners are revealed on Easter Sunday.

Create away!

If you adore cheese, or rather all cheeses, of every sort, you might want to head over to Tiny Showcase. Mr. C.W. Roelle's beautiful wire sculptures of cheese, like the ones above, are currently available on preorder for the not-so-bad price of $65. But wait -- there's a catch.

You can't choose what you get. That's right -- you pay your money and get a sculpture at random. You could get blue. You could get Brie. You could get Romano. This is why I say a lover of all cheeses. I would love one of these, but I just know that I'd get some moldy cheese. (I'm trying to get onto the blue bandwagon, but it just aint happenin' yet, so I don't want a sculpture taunting me in the kitchen.)

As an added bonus, if you order before Saturday, February 21, you get a complimentary signed poster that displays some of the cheeses from the collection. But me, I just want one of these for havarti.

[via Serious Eats]

That's right! You're looking at a pasta mosaic of Rachael Ray created by artist Jason Mecier. Last Wednesday, the blog Entertainmentwise posted a story about the artist's most recent mosaics, including one of Mariah Carey made using "only beauty essentials like lipstick and eyeliner." We're so used to seeing food sculptures, like those cheese ones from last year. But, an actual portrait...

Pasta is not the only material Mecier uses in his mosaics. The gallery on his website reveals candy mosaics of celebrities, such as Dolly Parton and the Spice Girls. Then, there's the unforgettable portrait of Martha Stewart made with veggies! Check out his wacky gallery and let us know which ones are your favorites.