Battle of the Fake Food Chefs

Required Eating

Posted by Robyn Lee, August 31, 2007 at 2:30 PM

If you find typical cooking shows are too boring, maybe a battle between "chefs" constructing fake food made of painted plastic will catch your interest. This clip from Japanese TV show TV Champion pits two fake food craftsmen together as they prove to three judges who has the better skills. Be amazed as a brown, craggly slab of plastic turns into a steak and a bumpy beige lump is turned into a piece of fried chicken! Is it sad that their food looks more edible than anything I can cook? [via TV in Japan]

For those who don't know, the over ninety-years old fake food industry in Japan is pretty awesome. Fake food (also known as sampuru, the Japanese spelling for "sample") is frequently used in Japanese restaurants' displays to provide customers with clear images of what they're ordering. Be sure to visit Kappabashi, the "Kitchen District" of Tokyo, if you want to start your own fake food collection.

3 Comments | Tags: Japan, videos

3 Comments:

That was a great clip! I had never heard of this fake food industry display before--delightful learning experience. The laptop was just so cool!

JEP at 4:12PM on 08/31/07

Thanks for the links, Robyn! I've always wanted a Japanese fake pizza. Maybe these links will help me find one. (And a fake burger, too, of course.)

Adam Kuban at 4:38PM on 08/31/07

Those are the coolest souvenirs I ever got from Japan. In downtown Osaka, next to NAMBA station, is a restaurant supply open air market. Some of the places have fake food to buy. For $5 a pop, I got some pieces of fake restaurant display sushi. They're very lifelike.

I wish I knew where I could find something like that in Korea. They do the fake food displays too.

ZenKimchi at 1:24AM on 09/04/07

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