omg, it's made of food!

February 2, 2008 12:06 AM

Surreal photographic Foodscapes by photographer Carl Warner.Strawberry hot air balloons, towers of cheese, potato boulders, green pea boats on seas of salmon, spice roads, and sugar beaches populate these intricate and luscious scenes. More dishy foodscapes (the plate rainbow = ♥!) and other wonderful visual tricks at his Flash site in the "Fotographics" section (look for the fabulous forest of boots and the white cotton winter wonderland!).

Note that the Foodscapes and other illusions are in the second section at his site (the orange box), which contains four folders. Flash. gah. I also found a bit about the process at The Thinking Blog.

Via presurfer, via neatorama. And other places... but too good not to link here.

posted by taz (28 comments total)

oh wow. Taking tasty megabytes. Totally trippy. Om nom nom. Fascinating how some of the textures of the meat, bread or veggies match those of landscapes. Never would have thought to connect the stippled surface of salmon with the water at a seaside but it works perfectly. Another of his foodscapes.
posted by nickyskye at 12:32 AM on February 2, 2008

I loved the little pea pod boat. I have often thought that artists see differently - Carl Warner surely does.
posted by Cranberry at 12:44 AM on February 2, 2008

I'm trippin' balls, man. Trippin' balls.
posted by farishta at 1:07 AM on February 2, 2008

I'm hungry...
posted by tommyD at 4:19 AM on February 2, 2008

Delightful post to wake up to after getting my Breakfast Bake on!
I can't feel my legs, and I am ok with that.
posted by Dizzy at 4:27 AM on February 2, 2008

This is really neat and fun. Although I would hate to of been near the salmon ocean for very long.
posted by parallax7d at 5:05 AM on February 2, 2008

Yay, taz, you always find the best things!
posted by madamjujujive at 5:59 AM on February 2, 2008

These are wonderful - not just landscapes made of food but beautifully crafted landscapes. I was worried about the loaves of bread dipped in the water though; that can never be good.
posted by rongorongo at 6:05 AM on February 2, 2008

I think the sky in the salmon sea one might be made of mashed potatoes... and if so, that's just big genius. :) I also think some of the clouds are marshmallows, sort of semi-melted around the edges (or photoshop-melted), though some of them also resemble a sweet I've had before (only in Greece, and I don't know what it might be called in English).

The mushroom cap wagon wheel in the hot air balloon one also delights me, as do pasta shells and marzipan (?) shells for real shells in the underwater scene. I'm trying to figure out the floor tile in the kitchen table one (chocolate bar? brownies? fudge?). Anyway, I would love to see these in high rez.
posted by taz at 6:32 AM on February 2, 2008

Hello, Mario Galaxy!
posted by These Premises Are Alarmed at 7:02 AM on February 2, 2008

Wow, beautiful and tasty. Can't imagine what the obesity rate is in Foodland. These are seriously cool, taz, thanks.
posted by misha at 7:22 AM on February 2, 2008

There's a wonderful kids' book called Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs - man, would I like to see it illustrated by this guy. All alone they're a little twee for me but as illustrations? Awesome.
posted by mygothlaundry at 8:01 AM on February 2, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

The farm plots are nice and meta. Four rows of corn for rows of corn.
posted by artifarce at 8:09 AM on February 2, 2008 [1 favorite has favorites]

I feel like I could look at these over and over and still spot something new each time. It tickles me how he uses food as fabric with the lasagna curtains and pepper awnings. Really neat!
posted by hoppytoad at 8:20 AM on February 2, 2008

this is the land where the Mississippians who are not allowed to eat out, would be banished
posted by seawallrunner at 9:27 AM on February 2, 2008

this is the land where the Mississippians who are not allowed to eat out, would be banished

No, you're wrong.

I don't really see anything breaded, deep fried, cooked in bacon fat or lard - or in a wrapper on a bun, which is more likely the real problem.

If you'll observe more carefully you'll see that most of the food seems quite fresh and healthy. We'd all do well to eat food that good all the time.

What you're actually seeing is the land of food I dream about cooking when I'm no longer a broke, starving artist.

Mountains of fresh vegetables, lake-sized vats of real butter. And that sea of salmon? All mine. Don't even look at it. I'm going to eat my way to Burma and back again.

*wanders out to farmer's market with end-of-the-month small change, thankful for even that*
posted by loquacious at 9:49 AM on February 2, 2008

It was all good until the tornado ripped through and answered the "will it blend" question.
posted by Tube at 10:03 AM on February 2, 2008 [2 favorites has favorites]

> No, you're wrong.</i<

you just proved me right loquacious. that is exactly why they would be banished there
posted by seawallrunner at 10:15 AM on February 2, 2008

posted by seawallrunner at 10:16 AM on February 2, 2008

Wow. This is like Candyland for adults. The enchanted broccoli forest is lovely, dark and deep.
posted by mumkin at 10:56 AM on February 2, 2008

I don't really see anything breaded, deep fried, cooked in bacon fat or lard

Well, there are some nice bacon-based winter scenes in the Foodscapes section of the Flash site.

They look positively idyllic.
posted by echo target at 11:17 AM on February 2, 2008

taz, enjoyed reading how the work is done at your third link. Love the radicchio sunset. He says they are cauliflower clouds (the cumulus ones anyway). "Mozzarangelo". Ha!

Looked up Greek sweets. Could you be thinking of kaymaki?

Oh, a comfy sofa of nougat would be nice, except for the right mess with the poofs of powdered sugar when I sat down. Love the Greek word for sweet, gleeka, it captures somehow the feel of my sticky fingers after eating baklava.

Was looking for some decorations to go with your foodscapes, like a cucumber daschshund, and came across this site.
posted by nickyskye at 11:24 AM on February 2, 2008

Great site, nickyskye! The sweets I'm thinking of are called "bezes" here, I think, but they are just basically this - a hardened meringue concoction.

I'm afraid I'm going to be looking at my food funny for the next few days...
posted by taz at 11:50 AM on February 2, 2008

"I like the way smaller aspects of nature resembled larger ones." says Warner.

Never seen a better application of fractals.
posted by artifarce at 1:48 PM on February 2, 2008

These are wonderful (in that slightly creepy/trippy way that others have commented on); they make me think of the description of Morgan le Fay's castle in The Once and Future King:

A lake of new milk I beheld
In the midst of a fair plain.
I saw a well-appointed house
Thatched with butter.
As I went all around it
To view its arrangement
I saw that puddings fresh-boiled
were its thatch-rods.
Its two soft door-posts of custard,
Its dais of curds and butter,
Beds of glorious lard,
Many shields of thin-pressed cheese.
posted by verstegan at 1:59 PM on February 2, 2008

Oh YAY exquisitely described meringue recipe taz. That's one of my childhood favorites that has stayed with me. I have a classic old-fashioned egg beater, a steel bowl and a lemon. Will make some this very afternoon. Fascinating about aging the egg whites. Drat. I'm too impatient to wait a week. But will age some for later. huh. Always wonder about the science of food. (Will look at her book link, On Food and Cooking. My sis knows *a lot* about food science. I'll ask her.) Why aged egg whites? And why room temperature? Would have thought the colder the better.

Just love learning stuff like that. What fun.

These foodscapes are a great example of synesthesia. This subject interests me, as I find myself saying something like ooh that beautiful looking thing is yummy. Mixing senses. Or find myself daydreaming about landscapes when listening to music, as if the music became a geography my mind could travel. I did a post ages ago re confounding sight and sound.

And yes, I'll look at food a bit differently now.
posted by nickyskye at 2:04 PM on February 2, 2008

Meringues are in the oven now. Thanks again taz, had no idea how easy they are to make.
posted by nickyskye at 3:51 PM on February 2, 2008

nice bacon-based winter scenes. . . look positively idyllic.

Well, yes and no. They're gorgeous in their assemblage, but they made me feel vaguely ill, in a way that the veggie ones (and even the salmon one) absolutely didn't. And I even eat meat on a regular basis--I just don't cook it (with a vegetarian husband, I get all my meat outside of the house) so seeing all that raw fat was altogether ooky.
posted by dlugoczaj at 7:43 PM on February 2, 2008