Have you ever seen a head of cauliflower and thought that it looked like a sheep? Have misshapen tomatoes reminded you of clowns? Then you’re on the way to creating fun food art using fruits and vegetables.
Selecting Vegetables for Food Art
Chances are that you’ll find funny-looking vegetables in your home garden, at a farm stand, or at an outdoor market. Be gentle when handling fruits and vegetables so they don’t bruise, which will cause them to spoil faster. If someone is selling vegetables, ask if he has any odd-looking produce for your art project.
Grocery stores tend to want produce that looks picture-perfect, so chances are that you won’t find weird protrusions poking out of the tomatoes. Of course, if you’re at the grocery store, you need only use your imagination to envision fruits and vegetables as something other than dessert or a side dish.
You do want fresh produce, not canned or frozen. Also, you want to avoid bruised or rotting fruits and vegetables that might not hold up to the art-making process.
Materials for Turning Vegetables into Animals
You will need a sharp knife and a cutting board (and, depending on your age, either the assistance of an adult or some supervision).
Toothpicks are perfect for attaching one vegetable to another. Get the type with a sharp point on both ends so they are easier to insert.
Whole cloves and black-eyed peas work well as eyes. The cloves you can poke into place. The peas need to be set into a small slit cut into the fruit or vegetable. Get dried peas, as they will be firmer to work with than cooked or canned peas.
Creating Garnished Vegetable Art
Before you start, make certain that your hands and your work area are clean. If you eat your art later on (and you can do that), you won’t want dirt or germs all over your dinner.
Sometimes, creating edible art is as easy as seeing a bump on an eggplant and thinking that it looks like a nose. Then, all you need to do is add black-eyed peas for eyes and cut a sliver from the purple skin so it looks like a mouth. The green leaves at the top of the eggplant even resemble a hat and just like that, you’re done.
Other times, you need to use your imagination and do some more cutting and add on some smaller vegetable accents. This is when the toothpicks will come in handy. Be sure to look at your fruit or vegetable before you start and consider what animal (or person) it looks like.
If your garnished art project doesn’t come out the way you hoped it would, set it aside for a moment and consider how you could turn it into something different.
Use your imagination when looking at produce and consider how a few slices here and there and some beans for eyes can turn zucchini into a manatee. After displaying and photographing your art, remember that it is made out of food that can be eaten.
