Sorry mom and dad, but we say: play with your food. Why? Well, just look at the beautiful artwork a 21-year-old Vancouver woman produced when she did just that.
A life-long food and art enthusiast, Lauren Purnell, creator of these "culinary canvases," explains how she got started: "I cooked Spaghetti Carbonara for a few of my friends and had spent quite a bit of time locating the ingredients, prepping and cooking the food, then plating a presenting the dish. Despite the time and effort put into making said dish, the meal disappeared pretty quickly, without a moment given to appreciate its appearance. After dinner, I kind of zoned out and started playing with the leftover bits of food on my plate, eventually deciding to manipulate them into the shape of a tree — the 'spaghetree'. It became my first 'food art'."
Though she, like the rest of us, was frequently reminded as a child, "don't play with your food," she was also, as she says, "encouraged to admire, appreciate, and enjoy my food. My father loves cooking…and I always admired that he often had a vision of how the food would look when it made it to the table; he'd call it 'painting'."
Purnell has experimented with and created all sorts of different arrangements — a hummingbird made of basil, mint, avocado, parsley, and raspberries; a tree of rhubarb and kale; peacock feathers born from fennel, kiwi, apricots, and blueberries. The results are truly impressive!
Have a look at some of Lauren's clever creations and head over to her blog to check out more of her incredible work.
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