At a workshop in Tokyo, a dozen or so tourists watched as green and white wax was poured into warm water. As the liquid turned into a sheet, they were then asked to slowly pull it up and roll it, gasping at its transformation into a lettuce. Hands-on lessons in the art of creating food replicas have caught on with foreign visitors keen to learn more about a distinctive Japanese craft that has evolved for over 100 years.
An exhibit of food replicas has even been held in London this year. The lessons were offered by Iwasaki Group, which is believed to have been the first to commercialize the production of food replicas in 1932. Now used not only as window-display enticements by restaurants but also as training tools for farmers and as souvenirs, food replicas trace their roots to the period from the late 1910s to early 1920s in Japan, when dining out became popular due to the emergence of eateries, including at department stores.
The popularity of food replicas also grew in tandem with the spread of Western culture and ideas and helped introduce unfamiliar Western dishes to consumers in Japan. Daniel Bucheli, a sales manager from Switzerland, booked a spot at the workshop at an Iwasaki-run shop in the Kappabashi area of Asakusa, a traditional downtown area of Tokyo, ahead of his five-week vacation in Japan in the fall. "I wanted to try a cultural experience we can have only in Japan.
Oishiso ! ("Looks delicious" in Japanese)," he said as he playfully pretended to bite into the .