When we see a display of fake foods in a restaurant or pictures of food props on menus, in movies or on television, it rarely occurs to us to wonder where they came from or how they were made. The fact is, the creation of faux foods is a skill that takes great care, patience, training and artistic talent.
There are no mass produced food props. Each piece is made individually by an artisan who has spent years learning the craft, often times through trial and error. Although the first pieces were constructed in Osaka, Japan in 1932, the industry expanded rapidly at the end of World War II, when visiting foreigners, unable to read the menus, were shown fake replicas of the listed dishes. This enabled them to make selections based on appearance at least, since most of the foods were unfamiliar.
Since that time, everything from peas to wedding cakes have been replicated by dedicated artists who specialize in the creation of delicious-looking faux food. Isn't it ironic that most faux food takes many times longer to produce than it does to prepare the real meals?
For example, even the construction of a simple hot dog takes days of intensive work. The process starts with three real franks: one to create the mold, the second for color matching and the third in the event of failure. Liquid silicon is poured around the hot dog and left to set up for a day or two, depending on climate conditions. After the mold has hardened, the hot dog is removed and the silicon is cleaned and dried before carefully tinted plastisol is poured into it. After being cooked in both a microwave and industrial convection oven, the mold is water cooled and allowed to harden, after which it is carefully removed. The product is then buffed until the surface is completely smooth and ready to color with carefully matched paint, then allowed to dry. The entire process takes a minimum of three days, and that's just for the hot dog. Add in the bun, mustard, toppings, etc. and it could take as long as a week to 10 days just to make one display hot dog.
In addition to their use as props in TV and movies, display fake foods are much in demand by restaurants and food stores where freshly made items can quickly lose their appetizing appearance, a problem never encountered by a well-made fake. But a desert tray with melted icings won't sell desserts nearly as well as those enticing display fake foods do.
Vendors take ever-lasting foods to trade shows where they are can be handled by hundreds of exhibitors and buyers. This is especially useful for selling packaged foods to both retailers and of course, restaurants, diners, etc.
For the most part, food props are often more mouth-wateringly tempting than the real thing, and are responsible for the success of many eateries which use them both to lure customers in and to sell them special items once they're seated. The construction of display fake food has become indispensable to the worldwide food service industry and the artists who construct it are much appreciated for the alluring props they so artfully create.
