A worker applying finishing touches on his plastic food sculpture for an exhibition, at an Iwasaki Group factory in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture, June 17, 2022. From the "leaning tower of pizza" to a fish slicing and cooking itself and a dragon emerging from a dragon fruit, Japanese artisans' quirky plastic food sculptures went on display this week at an exhibition in Tokyo.
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Plastic food samples at an Iwasaki Group factory in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture.
PHOTO: AFP
A worker crafting a plastic food sculpture consisting of an ear of corn leisurely sunbathing on a beach.
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Plastic food samples before colouring at an Iwasaki Group factory in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture.
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A worker pouring liquid into moulds to make plastic food samples at an Iwasaki Group factory in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture.
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The models are made with the same painstaking detail as the rock-solid noodle soups and crispy-looking plastic snacks that have long been displayed outside Japanese restaurants where they are called "shokuhin sampuru", or "sample food products".
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All the models are handmade by specialists at Iwasaki Group, Japan's leading maker of "sampuru", which celebrates its 90th anniversary this year.
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At an Iwasaki factory in Yokohama near Tokyo, artisans first take moulds of ingredients from actual meals cooked by the firm's restaurant clients. Then they begin the meticulous work of decorating the samples to look as realistic as possible.
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Fake food is a multi-million-dollar market in Japan, but sampuru production has been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, which reduced demand for dining out.
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A table of plastic food samples at an Iwasaki Group factory in Yokohama, Kanagawa prefecture.
PHOTO: AFP
