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.
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.
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.
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.
A few weeks ago, I discovered this website with photos, like the one above, that give food a new meaning. A close-up of the skin of a kiwi fruit becomes a hairy brown lawn which a figurine mows. Both the use of figurines and close-ups render these images of food surreal. Is this art or is this childish behavior? Is it food play?
These perplexing images of food make the viewer disoriented by transforming the object into a non-food entity. For example, there's a photo of two figurines sawing through a piece of chocolate that according to the image is no longer chocolate, but rather a piece of stone or wood.
Whether it be art or simply food play, the succession of photos is hilarious and worth a visit.
For your lunchtime pleasure, I'm presenting a series of my favorite bento boxes. Bento are Japanese home-prepared meals served in special boxes, usually eaten for lunch at work or school. These days, bento enthusiasts from all over the world share their creations on Flickr.
Here's yet another amazing Sakurako Kitsa creation, a roma tomato ladybug with nori spots and emmental cheese eyes resting on a bed of greens. On the side is a ricepaper moth with a peanut body, seemingly stuck in a pool of peanut butter, and some wheat crackers.
Here at Slashfood, we tend to post a lot about food art. Like, a lot.
So, obviously, I didn't hesitate when I found these crazy creations. Made primarily out of produce and baguettes, these ain't your grandmomma's food sculptures.
The images have that creative, slightly eerie feeling of those in Joost Elffers' books, like Food for Thought.
I just love it when food and art overlap. Food artist Prudence Emma Staite has created a collection of works that recreate famous paintings out of chocolate Smarties. There's a wide range, from Pop Art to some more classical works.
The collection is showing at the Victoria and Albert Museum of Childhood in east London on Friday. It's all part of the Smartie Art Exhibit, which is celebrating the return of the blue Smartie.
Do you think Nestle would sponsor an exhibition if they brought anything else back? I'd have to do some research about what to reintroduce, but I bet I could think of something. What do you think would make a good food art project?
I've always had something of a fascination with imitation food. When I was a kid, I had a plastic fried egg that I served to my parents, my cousins and my sister over and over again, until the rubbery white turned a sickly grey and bits started to flake off the yellow yoke. I loved presenting my relatives with the fake sushi at my grandmother's house. And I would stare, completely transfixed, at the model dishes at our local Chinese restaurant.
It's no wonder then that I feel compelled to share fun examples of fake food with you whenever I come across them. The image you see above is from an artist who posts images of her work on Flickr. In addition to the TV dinner you see here, she has made anthropomorphic cannoli, sandwiches, a half-open tin of sardines and a carton of milk (to name only a few. It is definitely worth taking a trip over to her page to check out all the cute crocheted food items that she has made.
Here is a fabulous blog written by Spicetart. Spicetart is a woman of many talents. She is a writer, chef and artist. Her site covers everything from cooking to coffee to some great paintings of her favorite subject: food.
I love her rendition of mother corn. A tall, looming stalk of corn towers above all with the sun illuminating it from behind; very ethereal. She also has a lovely side view of a cut onion. Layers upon layers of onion reveal texture and a wonderful play of light on the purple and whites of the inner onion.
For true chefs, Spicetart offers some great posts about cooking and and where to find other cooking sites. Stop in and check out her site.
You might spit your old, chewed, tasteless, hard gum out onto the sidewalk, but artist Jason Kronenwald uses that gum as his medium.
Jason applies chewed gum to a plywood backing to create his Gum Blonde masterpieces - portraits of blondes made with chewed up gum. According to his bio, Jason doesn't chew gum himself, but has a team who chews the gum for him, with his favorite texture coming from Trident. He does not use paint or dyes, relying on the "inherent" color of the gum, and mixing colors by chewing them.
The first North American exhibition of the work of
eccentric Brazilian artist Artur Barrio is on display at the Levy Gallery
at the Moore College of Art and Design in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The exhibit, entitled Actions after Actions, features lots and lots of
coffee. Over 1400 pounds of roasted and ground espresso fill the almost cave-like gallery space, with grounds covering
the floor and what was once liquid splashed upon the walls. The smell of coffee not only permeates the 1,800 square
foot gallery, but has spread through much of the school's campus. Some students enjoy the smell, not minding when the
craving for a fresh espresso suddenly hits them after inhaling a large breath of air. Others experience headaches and
irritation brought on by an inability to rid themselves of the aroma of the grounds after a gallery visit.
The exhibit also includes 250 bottles of wine and 200 loaves of bread, as well as 100 pounds of shellac, an insect
secretion that was imported from France. The wine is available for guests to drink, but no drinkable coffee is
available at the exhibit. Admission is free and the gallery is open Tuesday through Friday from 10am to 5pm and
weekends from 12 noon to 4pm, if you are in the neighborhood. For directions, see the map or simply follow your nose. The exhibit runs though March 19,
2006.
Nir Adar is a food stylist and artist based in New York
who has a wonderful
website full of interesting and odd food images. I especially like his series of food balls. Basically, he takes
different food items—like fried eggs, cereal, or tomatoes—and melds them together into a ball structure. I
theorize that at the center of these balls are Styrofoam, and the food items are glued on. Although, I would think some
of these items wouldn’t stick very well with glue, like the eggs.
Here is a fabulous blog written by 
You might spit your old, chewed, tasteless, hard gum out onto the sidewalk, but artist Jason Kronenwald uses that gum as his medium.
The first North American 
Nir Adar is a food stylist and artist based in New York
who has a 
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