Fake food

Fake food

Fake foods are made from various types of plastics, resins and materials to replicate the appearance of real foods.There are various names for fake food including: pretend food, wax food, artificial food, faux food, replica food, imitation food, food replicas, false foods, food fakes and simulated...

samples appear prevalently in the windows and display cases of food-serving establishments throughout Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

. Once made from wax, today they are usually made out of plastic

Plastic

A plastic material is any of a wide range of synthetic or semi-synthetic organic solids used in the manufacture of industrial products. Plastics are typically polymers of high molecular mass, and may contain other substances to improve performance and/or reduce production costs...

. The plastic model

Plastic model

thumb|300px||4-year-old boy starts painting a plastic model he has assembled of the South Goodwin LightshipPlastic models, often called scale models, are models manufactured as kits which are assembled by hobbyists, and intended for static display....

s are mostly handmade from vinyl chloride

Vinyl chloride

Vinyl chloride is the organochloride with the formula H2C:CHCl. It is also called vinyl chloride monomer, VCM or chloroethene. This colorless compound is an important industrial chemical chiefly used to produce the polymer polyvinyl chloride . At ambient pressure and temperature, vinyl chloride...

 and carefully sculpted to look like the actual dishes. The models are custom-tailored to restaurant

Restaurant

A restaurant is an establishment which prepares and serves food and drink to customers in return for money. Meals are generally served and eaten on premises, but many restaurants also offer take-out and food delivery services...

s and even common items such as ramen

Ramen

is a Japanese noodle dish. It consists of Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a meat- or fish-based broth, often flavored with soy sauce or miso, and uses toppings such as , , kamaboko, green onions, and occasionally corn...

 will be modified to match each establishment's food. During the molding process, the fake ingredients are often chopped up and combined in a manner similar to actual cooking.

The craftsmanship has been raised to an art form and plastic food has been exhibited at places such as the Victoria and Albert Museum

Victoria and Albert Museum

The Victoria and Albert Museum , set in the Brompton district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London, England, is the world's largest museum of decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 4.5 million objects...

. Regular competitions are held in making fake food dishes out of plastic and other materials.
The food displays are usually called sampuru, derived from the English word sample.

The plastic food manufacturers fiercely guard their trade secrets as business is lucrative; the plastic food industry in Japan, by conservative estimates, has revenues of billions of yen per year. A single restaurant may order a complete menu of plastic items costing over a million yen.

In recent years, Japanese plastic food manufacturers have been targeting markets overseas, such as China

China

Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...

.

Plastic food manufacturers

While some large companies exist, others are small shops with a single proprietor. They can be found in Kappabashi-dori

Kappabashi-dori

Kappabashi-dori, also known just as Kappabashi or Kitchen Town, is a street in Tokyo between Ueno and Asakusa which is almost entirely populated with shops supplying the restaurant trade...

, the food supply street in Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

. Factories can be found in Gujō, Gifu

Gujo, Gifu

is a city in Gifu Prefecture, Japan.As of July 2011, the city has an estimated population of 43,960. The total area is 1,030.79 km².-History:...

.

• Iwasaki Be-I, the biggest plastic food manufacturer in Japan, founded by Takizo Iwasaki in 1932
• Maiduru (Maizuru), another old and large manufacturer

External links

• Maiduru
• Slesin, Suzanne. Fine Japanese Art of Making Fake Food The New York Times. May 25, 1983.