Spam, spam, spam, egg and spam
Posted Saturday, May 10, 2008 @ 02:31 am

I confess. I'm a Monty Python fan. And to start off this week's blog on the topic of "food art," I searched diligently for a Web site featuring pictures of Spam carving that would knock your socks off.

Didn't find one. What's wrong with people these days? Spam carving is a time-tested, honorable pastime. There used to be annual contests and Spam-offs all over the place. While the competitions still take place, the few paltry photos I've found online wouldn't do anyone proud. What's up with that?

Still, all is not lost. There are tons of other types of artists out there playing with their food.

Joost Elffers and Saxton Freymann are the authors of several children's books on food art, beginning with "Playing With Your Food." Freymann cuts green peppers into frogs, creates eggplant penguins and screaming oranges. A little carving and peeling, stick on googly eyes, and voila! Take a look at Freymann's edible works of art here: http://funny.koollog.com/funny-videos-funny-pictures/vegetable-carving/

I'm not sure who the artist is for these, but check out the imaginative sandwiches:
http://peterdekkers.com/bobble/wp-content/uploads/2006/06/sandwich.jpg. Bologna is WAY more versatile than I'd ever imagined!

From lowbrow to something that will impress the adults in your social sphere, these folks know how to make a presentation out of their fruits and veggies.

Takashi Itoh specializes in watermelon carving, which is sort of the "in" thing in Japan: http://takashi64.hp.infoseek.co.jp/page009.html.

Paolo Pachetti is an Italian "fruit sculptor" with a comical style. http://www.fruitsculpture.it/english/sculture.htm.

If you just can't get enough of that healthy fruit and veggie sculpture, try these sites: http://www.chefolio.com/Demos/Carving/image01.htm
http://www.zuzafun.com/oranges-art

Feel like tackling a little watermelon carving yourself? Here's a site that offers instructions for a few projects: http://asiarecipe.com/carving.html

Apparently there are many types of food that make good mediums for sculpture. Here's a Web site that shows food art made from butter, cheese, chocolate ... and of course, veggies and fruit. If the sight of a topless vegetable woman will offend you, skip this one. http://www.jimvictor.com/AssetsFood/foodsculpture.html.

Then there's pizza dough art: http://www.zuzafun.com/pizza-dough-art#more-241.

While fruit and vegetable carving appears to be an Asian specialty, Russians don't slack in creativity. Russian "cake artist" Zhanna from St. Petersburg makes these incredible desserts: http://englishrussia.com/?p=851.

And while we're on the sweet side, look at these sugar cube sculptures by Brendan Jamison: http://brendanjamison.tripod.com/id1.html.
Don't miss this one -- Jell-O landscapes and cityscapes by Liz Hickock! Translucent and beautifully lit, you won't believe these gorgeous photos.
http://www.lizhickok.com/portfolio_jello.html

Here's something I'd love to have the patience to make. Imagine whipping this masterpiece out at your next party: http://nagonthelake.blogspot.com/2008/02/ill-have-scream-casserole-please.html. I'm guessing it's veggies and dip, but who knows? I'm just in awe of whoever had the idea of recreating Edvard Munch's "The Scream" for a dip.

Not all food art is actually edible. For example, take a look at this Russian site: http://legnangel.livejournal.com/564026.html. The photos don't need any translation. It isn't exactly food art. More like art on food. But still cool.

And this actually looks like it would be fun, relatively easy and economical (especially if you have a dog) — kibble art! http://www.crookedbrains.net/2007/11/dog-food-art.html.

Back in 1994, an artist made this gallery exhibit out of cheese doodles: http://photo.net/photo/pcd0087/cheese-doodles-wide-60. Impressive!

Stefan Sagmeister used bananas to make a dramatic "wall": http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/02/7200_bananas.html. I suppose part of the artist's "vision" was the effect as the wall turned from yellow to brown ...?

These last two offerings involve artists who exhibit photos of art made from food. I can't determine if this one is digitally manipulated, but regardless, it's great fun. Carl Warner uses everything but the kitchen sink to make these realistic landscapes, but every bit of it is made from food. http://www.carlwarner.com.

Did you like the Alien movies? Feel the fear again with Till Nowak's vegetable portrait: http://framebox.de/creations/3d/salad/index.htm. This one is digitally manipulated, but still amazing.
Mmmmm. Time to go get a salad.

This week, as I start winding up my whirlwind tour of art on the Web, I want to emphasize crafts. No no no, not your aunt's dusty macrame from the 1970s, but a loose category of handmade things with a little bit of an odd twist.

OK then, let's consider knitting.

Continuing with art as my theme, I have to admit to a certain lifelong appreciation of paper. It's the canvas for human thoughts and images, from grocery lists to classic literature, from idle doodling to works of art. A page from a spiral notebook begs to be filled with class notes, a journal entry, a new recipe or a longhand draft of the next Great American Novel.