Japanese Fake Food Day *

* (restored)

‘In Japan, fake food is widespread. During the early Shōwa period, in the late 1920s, Japanese artisans and candle makers developed food models that made it easy for patrons to order without the use of menus, which were not common in Japan at that time. Paraffin was used to create these until the mid-1980s, but because its colors faded when exposed to heat or sunlight, manufacturers later switched to vinyl chloride, which is “nearly eternal.”

‘Modern models are usually made out of plastic. The plastic models are mostly handmade from polyvinyl chloride and sculpted to look like the actual dishes. The models can be custom-tailored to individual restaurants and even common items such as ramen can be modified to match each establishment’s food. During the molding process, the imitation ingredients are often chopped up and combined in a manner similar to actual cooking.

‘Many restaurants in Japan use replicas to display their popular dishes in their windows and attract customers. The plastic food manufacturers fiercely guard their trade secrets as business is lucrative; the plastic food industry in Japan, by conservative estimates, has revenues of billions of yen per year. A single restaurant may order a complete menu of plastic items costing over a million yen. The plastic replicas are much more expensive than the food they imitate, but can last indefinitely. For this reason, many companies that manufacture fake food have stagnant or declining profits. In recent years, Japanese plastic food manufacturers have been targeting markets overseas, including China and South Korea.

‘The craftsmanship has been raised to an art form. Japanese plastic food models by the Maizuru Company were exhibited at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum in 1980. Regular competitions are held in making fake food dishes out of plastic and other materials. The food displays are called sampuru (サンプル?), taken from the English word “sample”.

‘Modern manufacturing technologies and high quality plastic materials provide realistic-looking fake food replicas, and approximately 95% of all fake food is still handcrafted. Artisans and highly trained craftsmen make realistic fake food, often painting them by hand to create a realistic look and feel. Some Japanese fake food manufacturers mimic the actual cooking process, employing chef’s knives to chop plastic vegetables and real hot oil to fry plastic shrimp.

‘When fake food is made using a mold, the mold is created by dipping real food into silicone. A liquid plastic, typically vinyl chloride, is chosen in a color that matches the food, before being poured into the mold and heated in an oven until it solidifies. (When a food sample is not available or would disintegrate or melt in the mold during casting, a clay model of the food must instead be sculpted.) After setting for ten to thirty minutes, any excess vinyl buildup is trimmed off, and the replica is painted either by hand or airbrush. If the food comprises several parts, such as a hamburger or sushi roll, the item is assembled from separate vinyl pieces.

‘While some large-scale fake food manufacturing companies exist, others are small shops with a single proprietor. Fake food items can be found and purchased in Kappabashi-dori, the food supply street in Tokyo and also at Doguyasuji located in Namba, Osaka. Factories can be found in Gujō, Gifu. Iwasaki Be-I is the biggest plastic food manufacturer in Japan, founded by Takizo Iwasaki in 1932. Maiduru is another old and large manufacturer.’ — collaged

 

How to make fake cabbage

 

How to make fake shrimp tempura

 

Aikiko Obata

The largest collection of prepared food-related items consists of 8,083 items and belongs to Akiko Obata (Japan) in Sanbugun, Chiba, Japan, as of 24 January 2014.

 

Tokyo-Ga

In 1985, German director Wim Wenders travelled to Japan and made a film called Tokyo Ga, a documentary (mostly) on the filmmaker Yasujirō Ozu. In this clip of the film, Wenders visits a studio where fake food for display in restaurant windows is made.

 

The American Collector

My name is Alberts Gorman and I live in Louisville. I am an artist and art advocate. In addition to making and exhibiting my own artwork, I collect things I find at the bottom of the Ohio River. One of the more unusual collections I’ve formed from river found debris consists of fake food. This is an ever growing collection. Some of this material dates from 2003 when I began this project.

Most of these items are plastic, although I have found one ceramic, hollow apple and a few fruit-objects that are also Styrofoam. The majority of these objects are kids’ toys that were parts of play-sets incorporating plastic dishes. A few are containers for candy novelties and lemon and lime juice. One wonders how much of this stuff must be floating in the river since this collection is what one person at one small state park has found so far?!

 

The investigations of Nameless
I do not have a Twitter, Instagram, facebook, Tumblr etc. I do not have any social media. I don’t disclose my gender. (Because impostors exist.) I don’t recruit subscribers. (Number of subs isn’t important. Ratings are useless. Enjoy!)

Comparison of replica and real sweets

Replica and Real cookies

^-^ Now I have Yummy Nummy Nuggets, gummy, chocolate bars kit. I want to buy pretzel, cookies, cupcakes, cinni rolls!

Re-Ment collectables #2 – Cooking, Mom’s kitchen

Kutsuwa Doughnut Eraser Making Kit

 

Norihito Hatanaka
‘My name is Norihito Hatanaka and I create a fake food accessories. Normally, my factory creates ‘industrial art food models’ for display at restaurants. One day, I thought I wanted to create something interesting by using our expert technology of the craftsman. I considered what should I create to expose the fake food to public view. And as I was interested in fashion, I decided to make accessories that have a food motif. I get inspired for my work from casual daily scenery. Easily available common food items are charming as they are, though people sometimes don’t notice that.’

 

Suppliers

Fake Food Japan
Fake Food Japan prides itself in bringing you true works of art. Our handmade fake food is carefully designed and crafted from the most skilled in the industry right here in Osaka, Japan, where the fake food industry got its start in 1932. Starting our operations in 2012, our mission is to give people spanning the globe the opportunity to own and enjoy for themselves this Japanese time-honored craft of producing the most authentic looking fake food known to man. So by all means, take a look through our web site to see all that is possible. And if you can’t find what you are looking for, please let us know. We can take customized orders to create for you specialized one-of-a-kind items that you won’t find anywhere else!

iPhone cases

Ear Picks

Outlet Plug Covers

Tablet Stands

Multipurpose Cases

Sampuru
Nippon Plastic Food Replicas
Ganso
Maiduru

 

Really Fakes

 

 

*

p.s. Hey. ** _Black_Acrylic, Hi, Ben. Yes, your Conservative leadership contest is even leaking into the news here, but I can’t (yet) tell the truly evil ones from the semi-evil ones. Power wheelchair, snazzy! Maybe you can get some sculptor to customise it for you. Maybe it’s weird of me to think that’s cool, but I do, weird me. Of course if you weren’t such a stylist dude, I might feel differently. You move in your new place pretty swiftly now, don’t you? ** Dominik, Hi!!! My friend Paul Hameline, who was in ‘Like Cattle Towards Glow’, became a giant ‘It’ boy model for a while, and may still be. I haven’t seen him since that change, and I am massively curious to see what that did to him as a person if anything. Definitely with you on the ‘thank you, my body, and keep it up please’ front. Dude, fried cheese, I mean what could possibly compete with it. I’m drawing a total blank. Wow, that’s a very good use of love’s super powers. I would only want to know in advance so I could schedule meetings with particular people that day. And, well, probably avoid other people because I guess that could get ugly. It’s so hot here today that my laptop is making sounds like it just ran a marathon so my love is going to be extremely boring and predictable: cold air, now and lengthily, from anywhere, G. ** Tosh Berman, Happy you liked it. There’s a ton of political art being made and shown right now, but it’s, for the most, extremely un-radical in form and intent and obtuse and market-savvy and overly well behaved, so what’s the point, I ask? ** David Ehrenstein, They were definitely on the revolution track. I’m sure I’ve mentioned that my first boyfriend was named after Julian Beck (his father and JB were best friends). Everyone, If you can spare something to help David Ehrenstein out his his tough time right now, please do and do so here. ** Suzy, Hi, Suzy! Yeah, it was interesting finding Golub in my search for post stuff. When I lived in NYC in the 80s, his work was very present and often written about, but I hadn’t even thought about him in far too long. Wow, I did not know that Breton and Trotsky were friends/correspondents. That’s wild and is doing this insta-reinvention in my head of both of them. Nice, that Beckett. Everyone, Suzy slips this Samuel Beckett work/production into yesterday’s (and forever’s) Revolution: here. I guess I’m like you: I … would imagine/hope kiddos are starting bands with revolutionary aims out there. I should actually do a search and see what I can find. But, logically, they must be, right? Especially now. The Keys! Never been there. I’ve only been to Orlando in Florida and only to go to the theme parks. Wait, and one time I was on the panhandle, if that counts. Paris is violently hot at the moment, but, you know, it’s always kind of riveting in one way or another. You know it? You should come visit (when it cools down). ** Steve Erickson, From what you’ve said, I’m pretty sure ‘The Anarchists’ would piss me off, so I’ll let it drift elsewhere. Everyone, Harken! Steve E. says, ‘In Gay City News, I wrote about the New York Asian Film Festival, which starts Friday. If PERHAPS LOVE and ANGRY SON make their way around the world, I’d recommend them. I hope to see a few more films from the festival. I’ll watch out for those two. ** Right. I decided to disinter today’s post from the ruins of my murdered blog because I’m kind of obsessed with fake food, a medium of which the Japanese are the masters. As you can see. See you tomorrow.