fake food
No one wants to have egg on their face, but if you want in on your head, this Japanese company is happy to oblige.
Ikura gunkan-maki has always looked like a jewel-encrusted circle of seaweed to me. The beautiful, almost neon-orange spheres look so inviting as they sit glistening atop their bed of rice. But as dazzling as this traditional fare is, whenever I actually eat ikura gunkan-maki, I’m never able to get past the sensation of dozens of salmon eggs popping as I chewed. That’s why I’m very much excited for these sushi snow globes that afford an endless view of this deceptive dish.
Japan is famous for its wealth of delicious and interesting foods starting with sushi, tempura, takoyaki and hundreds of variations of ramen and soba. Then there’s the endless regional specialties; even the smallest village will have its own unique dish it prides itself on. However, for tourists who don’t speak or read any Japanese, ordering these exotic dishes can be quite intimidating.
Many places will only have menus in Japanese, and you would be missing out on a large part of Japan’s varied food culture if you only went to the places that offered English.
That’s why, as well as being awesome to look at, Japan’s fake food or “food samples” have become indispensable to foreigners.
In Japan, most restaurant windows are filled with plastic versions of food, giving customers a sneak preview of what they might expect to find on the menu. This practice is so popular that designing and creating these fake foods is a multi-billion yen (tens of millions of US dollars) market.
Food sample companies are now getting creative and branching out into other non-food related markets, starting with the Hatanaka company and their new line of faux-food accessories. Daring trend setters are now free to accessorize using pancakes, French fries, and even bacon.
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