mmmfoodart

February 9, 2006 12:09 AM

Food Art Very interesting pictures of food represented as something else - pie tins as ice skating rinks, donut cycling rings, and mining for watermelon seeds.
posted by divabat (36 comments total)

Amazing.
posted by tula at 12:16 AM on February 9, 2006

Really nice stuff. The picture of the workers peering at the broken eclair (?) is especially charming.
posted by bunglin jones at 12:34 AM on February 9, 2006

these pictures don't belong to that livejournal owner, I think. they've been posted here before, but the link was to minimiam, where as far as I know they're originally from.
posted by carsonb at 1:31 AM on February 9, 2006

[still really cool. cheers if you haven't seen 'em before.]
posted by carsonb at 1:32 AM on February 9, 2006

My favorites are the watermelon excavators, eclair workers, and creme brulee astronauts. Cool stuff.
posted by Faint of Butt at 3:39 AM on February 9, 2006

The artists (photographer/chef) are Akiko Ida and Pierre Javelle.

Also discussed on this post on BLDGBLOG.

The link to the Galerie Fraîch'Attitude is old, so here's the new one (French).
posted by slimepuppy at 4:03 AM on February 9, 2006

I liked the kiwi especially, because I hate mowing the lawn!

The mont blanc mountain climbers and the eclair looked the most realistic, I thought.
posted by Goofyy at 4:15 AM on February 9, 2006

Cool... I don't think I could pick a favorite. I like them all.
posted by Witty at 4:59 AM on February 9, 2006

Does anyone else have a particular affliction where they love controlling tiny people in strategy games? This kind of hits on the same affliction. A delicious affliction.
posted by a47danger at 5:33 AM on February 9, 2006

Those little models seemed to be very specific in their poses and looks. Does anyone know if they were made by the artists, or purchased?
posted by splatta at 5:48 AM on February 9, 2006

carsonb: ack, i didn't know! sorry! I got it off another LJ community, and the text is all in Cryllic so I couldn't tell. thanks for the headsup though.
posted by divabat at 5:55 AM on February 9, 2006

I saw these the other day. I hate them. A lot. There's something unholy stupid about putting plastic toys with food. The food should be attractive on its own, and if you're making it into something else, it's like saying "food is worth turning into something else." Which is like wasting food, or taking god's name in vain.
posted by rxrfrx at 6:17 AM on February 9, 2006

Huh?
posted by Witty at 6:27 AM on February 9, 2006

I'm trying to come up with a reply to rxrfrx but my brain won't quite let the words come out.

I second Witty's 'huh?'.
posted by slimepuppy at 6:34 AM on February 9, 2006

"It's culinary sculptography."
posted by Witty at 6:34 AM on February 9, 2006

I've seen these before but I've never loved them more than I do today! Thanks.
posted by OmieWise at 6:38 AM on February 9, 2006

rxrfrx writes "The food should be attractive on its own, and if you're making it into something else, it's like saying 'food is worth turning into something else.'"

That's why I never cook my pork chops. If God had meant them to be cooked, pigs would come roasted.
posted by OmieWise at 6:42 AM on February 9, 2006

Are you saying the little plastic people are edible?
posted by rxrfrx at 6:48 AM on February 9, 2006

I wouldn't call a few eclairs/kiwis a waste of food. Besides, the only thing rendered potentially inedible would be the mushrooms.

If you go down that route, all art is a waste of materials that could be used on something else...
posted by slimepuppy at 6:54 AM on February 9, 2006

Audrey Heller does much of the same.
posted by monju_bosatsu at 7:02 AM on February 9, 2006

Фигасе! У тебя живут прям? Можно их в гости к себе пригласить?
posted by zonkout at 7:27 AM on February 9, 2006

Metafilter: a waste of materials that could be used on something else
posted by wabashbdw at 7:40 AM on February 9, 2006

monju_bosatsu writes "Audrey Heller does much of the same."

Man, I love these kinds of photos. It takes me back to reading The Borrowers as a kid.
posted by OmieWise at 7:43 AM on February 9, 2006

More than the food, I hate to see the waste of a perfectly good Scrabble board.

There are bored children in Africa!
posted by tcobretti at 8:25 AM on February 9, 2006

Buh dump, chtt. (Or some other appropriately rimshot sounding thing.)
posted by OmieWise at 8:38 AM on February 9, 2006

Charming, but only the sort of thing to glance at for a moment and then forget about.
posted by raedyn at 9:35 AM on February 9, 2006

Wow, rxrfrx. If you are actually disturbed by this as a waste of effort/food, well, why imagine anything at all? Hey, why do we cook/prepare food at all?--can't we just inject the protien in a glucose I.V. or something more efficient than having the forks and the plates and seasonings and all that tedious chewing? (...Though a better question might be, what the heck are you doing on Metafilter?)

tcobretti: re the bored children in Africa. Thank you. I L.O.L'ed.
posted by applemeat at 10:38 AM on February 9, 2006

If you are actually disturbed by this as a waste of effort/food

But I'm not.
posted by rxrfrx at 10:46 AM on February 9, 2006

Waste of food? Food grows on trees for cryin' out loud.
posted by Witty at 10:46 AM on February 9, 2006

...and what the heck am I doing on Metafilter!!!!
posted by rxrfrx at 10:46 AM on February 9, 2006

It's a waste in the "that's a damn shame" sense. You all seem to be having trouble understanding what I mean.

It's like putting inedible garnish on a plate before presentation.
posted by rxrfrx at 10:47 AM on February 9, 2006

"Don't fall in love. Watch out."

There.

Now we don't have to have music or drama either.
posted by applemeat at 10:53 AM on February 9, 2006

rxrfrx, If you are not just being churlish for fun here, I am genuinely curious about your position that this is a waste of much of anything in that "damn shame" kind of way. Do you see other non-essential/aesthetic trappings as similarly negative? Or is it just the food aspect here....which is at least plausible considering the morality most of us have been brought up with about not wasting food. (As if eating that last meatball on our plate somehow benefited a hungry child in China.)

I am wondering things like: What are you wearing today (...no, not trying to cyber with you..) Are you wearing an animal hide or a tarp wrapped around you for warmth and protection from the elements? Or do you have on a shirt with a collar (what for?) made of fabric of a particular color (why?) a pattern, (well, why?) etc.. What about your car? Does it have any aesthetic purpose for you? I don't mean to be facetious, just curious how far you'd take this.
posted by applemeat at 11:36 AM on February 9, 2006

applemeat, it's just the food aspect, as I have much stronger convictions about what is aesthetically ideal for food than I do about other things. But I'm not trying to say anything broader like "people shouldn't wear clothes" or anything like that. Just food. So, I wouldn't take this any further than I've already described.

In addition to the sensation that this is all very unnecessary and somehow disrespectful to the potentially awesome food, there's something creepy about putting little plastic toys in the foreground with food. I'm not sure why I feel that way.
posted by rxrfrx at 11:57 AM on February 9, 2006

rxrfrx writes "I'm not sure why I feel that way."

Fair enough, I was just ribbing you about the pork.
posted by OmieWise at 1:18 PM on February 9, 2006

Yes, fair enough, rxrfrx. Thanks for responding.

[Who knows why we feel the way we do about the certain little things that irk us. But I understand what you mean even if I can't share it in this case. (For example, I deplore--irrationally deplore-- the word "sacred' when it appears in a secular sense. Don't know why this should bother me at all, as I am not even one ounce religious, but the word "Sacred" (As attached to a coffee shop or a folk album title. As opposed to, say, a Hindu temple or a Catholic school) just sounds so ....precious and delicate and eye-rollingly pretentious to my ears that.....I just want to scream so I don't have to think about it anymore. And who knows why I love epaulets so much. They are pretty pointless as far as modern garments are concerned, but I love them irrationally. Unduly. I love the shit out of them.]
posted by applemeat at 1:49 PM on February 9, 2006