Japanese Food Art: Not Just a Tasty Meal

Japanese chefs pride themselves not only on the flavor and texture of their food, but also on the attractive presentation of a meal. In Japan, the presentation of a meal is as important as the taste and texture of the food. Japanese chefs pride themselves on the creative, artistic nature of dish, as well as the flavors within the meal.

Rice Art

By coloring the rice and then shaping it, these creative chefs have created comical, edible characters. Most of these dishes have been designed for the delight of children, but are also enjoyed by adults. The chef uses other foodstuffs in the dish, such as seaweed, to give the character more personality.


Sushi Food Art

Sushi is one of Japan’s most famous and internationally appreciated foods. Sushi is well-known foe being not only delicious, but an attractive, healthy meal. These chefs have taken the artistic food a step further, using colored sushi rice, fish roe (fish eggs), seaweed sheets and different vegetables to create patterns and pictures with the sushi.

Watermelon Art

These chefs have used watermelons as a canvas for their designs. Cutting into the fruit at different depths allows them to utilize a specific color layer within the fruit. The green portions of the picture are the skin, the white is found below the skin and the pinks are found at the centre of the melon. By carefully cutting around the green portions, the artistic chef can create an artwork from the simple fruit.

Japanese food is more than just sustenance. Each meal can be appreciated for its flavor, texture and aesthetic value. This artistic nation can turn any drab, plain food stuff into an exciting edible art work to excite artistic palettes.


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Where’s Waldo? Where’s Wally? Where’s Walter?

As it turns out, Waldo, Wally and Walter are the same person, making it easier for Wally Watchers to catch up with the fellow. Waldo, it seems, also has the aliases Charlie, Holger, Valli, Willy, Hetti and Effy. He uses Charlie when in France, Holger in Denmark, Walter in Germany, Valli in Iceland, Willy in Norway, Hetti in Goa and Sri Lanka and Effy in Israel. When Wally is in America, he goes by the name of Waldo.

Wally, Waldo, Walter, Charlie, Holger, Valli, Willy, Hetti and Effy – One and the Same

In 1987, Martin Handford released the first Where’s Wally book in the UK. It was so popular that the character’s name was adapted for 28 countries in order to make the character more lovable to readers within that nation. So the next time you search for Wally, look out for his bulging pocket of passports.
Wally is a tall, thin character with a red and white striped shirt and hat. He wears glasses and carries a wooden walking stick. In the Where’s Wally books, the aim is to find Wally in a busy scene.

An Example of a Where’s Waldo/Wally Illustration

Where’s Wally Characters

In Handford’s first two books, Wally was the only character that needed to be found. More characters were added over the years and Wally also became forgetful, which meant that there were now more characters and new objects to be found in the busy, humorous illustrations.


Odlaw
 Other characters include Odlaw (which is Waldo backwards). Odlaw is Wally’s arch-nemesis and he is dressed in yellow and black. Odlaw is presumably the evil character in the book, though he is never shown doing anything particularly spiteful in the pictures.

Wizard Whitebeard
Wizard Whitebeard appeared in the third Where’s Wally book. He sent Wally on an adventure and now follows the stripey-shirted hero on his travels.

Wanda, also called Wenda

Wanda, aka Wenda, is Wally’s friend and she is dressed in a similar fashion to Wally.

Woof
Wally’s dog Woof later became Wanda’s dog and in most illustrations, only his tail is seen. On the last page of “Where’s Waldo: The Wonder Book”, Woof is revealed in his entirety.

Wally in Animation

In 1991 an animated TV series called “Where’s Waldo?” was produced in America by DiC and CBS. The thirteen-episode series was created primarily for the American market and then translated, and Waldo’s name changed, for other countries around the world.

Intro Sequence to the US Where’s Waldo? Animated Series:

United Kingdom version of the US Where’s Waldo Animated Series (7 min episode including UK intro)

Wally Humor

The Where’s Wally series of books have inspired many pranks. A young Canadian artist, Melanie Cole, created a 16.5m long by 5.5m wide picture of Wally and placed it on a rooftop somewhere in Vancouver. She then challenged people to find Wally via Google Earth. The project gained a huge amount of media attention and has become a favorite Google Earth search around the world.

Above: Google Earth Satellite Image of Waldo on a Rooftop, Somewhere in Vancouver.


Above: Melanie Cole at Work on Waldo for the Google Earth satellites

Above: The planning process for the Google Earth Where's Waldo art installation.


Where’s Wally Prank

View the prank at the following link Where's Wally Prank (Don't read on until you've visited the link)
This famous online prank for Where’s Wally is a Where’s Wally scene without Wally. The viewer becomes engrossed in the image, desperately searching for Wally when a screaming face from the movie “The Exorcist” comes on screen and makes a loud noise, startling the viewer.

Two decades after the creation of the Where’s Wally/Waldo books, the challenge has not faded away. The series is still gaining popularity and is bound to be a source of interest for later generations.

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Celebrity Optical Illusions

Optical illusions of people who have become famous throughout the ages, including Jesus Christ, Einstein, Marilyn Monroe and Barack Obama.

Optical illusions take many forms – sometimes an image is hidden in a series of lines or dots, sometimes two images are included in the same picture and can only be seen if you change they way that you look at the artwork.


Jesus Christ Optical Illusions

The image of Jesus Christ has been used as the subject matter for many optical illusions. Take a look at these and see if you can find Jesus. (For the vertical line optical illusion, move away from your monitor to see the image).

Albert Einstein

Albert Einstein was a 20th century scientist and philosopher who is famous for his theory of relativity. Take a look at the picture of his below. Can you see Albert Einstein or Marilyn Monroe? (Hint - move back from the screen)

Marilyn Monroe

Test yourself to see if you can find the famous actress, Marilyn Monroe, in the picture below. (Hint – Move away from your screen and focus on the center of the image until Marilyn emerges.)

President Barack Obama

Stare at the center of the optical illusion image and then look at a bright, flat surface such as a wall to see a picture of the US president Barack Obama.

George W. Bush

Can you see the words “peace” and “war” in the first picture of George Bush? The second picture doesn’t contain a picture of George W Bush, but the images, when seen together, create an illusion of his face.

Scarlett Johansson

Move away from your screen and stare at the center of the image below to see an image of the beautiful actress and model, Scarlett Johansson.

Elvis Presley

Focus on the cross in the center of the screen for a while and then look at a bright, flat surface like a wall to see an afterimage of the Rock and Roll King, Elvis Presley.

Brad Pitt

Hollywood heart throb Brad Pitt is hiding somewhere in this image.

Homer Simpson

Famous loser dad Homer Simpson, from the hit animated TV series “The Simpsons” isn’t actually pictured here. The collection of other character images gives the illusion of Homer’s face.

Johnny Depp

To see Johnny Depp in the image below, focus on the center of the image and move away from your screen.

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Delicious Body Art: Chocolate Body Painting

Forget creme brulee, milk tart and lemon meringue pie. Chocolate body paint offers a sexy, tasty dessert as a happy ending to a romantic date.

Edible chocolate body paint can be found in a variety of flavors, but the most common are dark chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate. Pots of chocolate flavored body paint are often sold with a paint brush, but this writer feels that the paint should be applied with fingers or tubes, for a far more sensual art experience.
The art of body painting creates a personal experience between the artist and the model. The model must trust that the artist will respect their body, and the artist must be comfortable to be in such close proximity to the model. Body painting is one of the most sensual, interactive forms of art, as it involves touch, trust and self-expression.

Chocolate body paint can be applied in several different ways, to create a variety of effects. As seen in the photos above, the artist has poured edible chocolate paint over the model’s bodies, to delight the viewer with a delicious image of a girl drenched in chocolate.

Edible body paint can also be applied using a tube, to create a detailed decorative effect. Using a tube to apply the paint means that the artist can form delicate swirls, lines and dots to give a lacy, feminine effect. Take a look at these chocolate body paintings created with paint tubes by Gerard Petzl. You can see more of his art at Forever Art.

Chocolate body paint can also be combined with edible glitter, also known as confectioners glitter, to create a shimmering, edible body painting. This combination of bling and chocolate will delight women as a Valentine’s day gift.

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