「ピザ」の斜塔に納豆の嵐まで…アイデアと技の食品サンプル展

【東京ＡＦＰ＝時事】食品サンプルのコンクール作品展「おいしさのアート展」が都内で３１日まで開催されている。（写真は食品サンプル大手「いわさきグループ」によるコンクール作品展「おいしさのアート展」の準備風景。「イワサキ・ビーアイ」横浜工場で）
　「ピザ」の斜塔、自分の身をそぎ切りにする魚、ドラゴンフルーツから飛び出すリアルな竜──展示作品はすべて、今年で創業９０年を迎える食品サンプル大手「いわさきグループ」の技術者たちが手掛けた。
　出品者の一人、畑佐伸一郎さん（５７）は「普段の仕事はお客さまのオーダーなので、意見を聞きながらやらなければいけないです」と語る。「けれども、コンクールの場合は全部、自分の発想。出来栄えも、満足するかしないかは自分次第なので、やりやすいと言えばやりやすいですね」
　畑佐さんは、ビーチでのんびりと日光浴を楽しむトウモロコシを製作した。
　約６０点の出品作には、見るだけでも楽しいものもあれば、圧倒的な職人技を見せつけるものもある。会場には、キャベツの千切りの山をトラのようにうろつく「ブラックタイガーのエビフライ」、焼き鳥でできたゲームの「テとりス」、納豆が竜巻のように巻き上がる「ｗｏｗ！納ｔｏｒｎａｄｏ？ネバーａｐｐｒｏａｃｈ！」などの作品がずらりと並ぶ。
　作品展を訪れた男性は「今、食品サンプル使っているお店も少なくなっています」と話す。「これをアートという形で残していくのは面白いと思います。素直にすごいと思います」【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2022/08/29-11:42）

From the leaning tower of pizza to a fish slicing and cooking itself and a dragon emerging from a dragon fruit, Japanese artisans' quirky plastic food sculptures went on display this week at an exhibition in Tokyo.
The models were made with the same painstaking detail as the rock-solid noodle soups and crispy-looking plastic snacks that have long been displayed outside Japanese restaurants where they are called shokuhin sampuru, or sample food products.
Sampuru are common outside ramen shops and family restaurants across Japan a century after stores began using wax models to advertise their menu to a growing middle class.
Normally we have to follow orders from clients. We take their views on board when we're making items, plastic food artist Shinichiro Hatasa, 57, told AFP.
But when dreaming up fun designs, you can use your imagination. How it ends up is totally up to you, he said.
For the exhibition, Hatasa crafted an ear of corn leisurely sunbathing on a beach.
Other creations on display included a deep-fried shrimp with four breaded legs roaming like a tiger on a mountain of shredded cabbage and a Tetris game made of chicken.
A Japanese breakfast dish of fermented soybeans called natto appeared to spiral in the air, resembling a powerful cyclone -- nicknamed, naturally, a nattornado.
Around 60 sculptures were on display, some silly but others designed to showcase the artists' formidable skills.
They are not real, but they look so real. It's wonderful, said exhibition attendee Reiko Ichimaru.
- 'Burgers are for beginners' -
All the models were handmade by specialists at Iwasaki Group, Japan's leading maker of sampuru, which celebrates its 90th anniversary this year.
At an Iwasaki factory in Yokohama near Tokyo, artisans first take moulds of ingredients from actual meals cooked by the firm's restaurant clients.
Then they begin the meticulous work of decorating the samples to look as realistic as possible, from moisture droplets on chilled glass to subtle bruises on a fruit's surface.
Fresh things are more difficult to make. Fresh vegetables, fresh fish. Cooked items are easier, because the colours are less complicated, factory head Hiroaki Miyazawa, 44, told AFP.
Hamburger patties are for beginners, he added.
Fake food is a multi-million-dollar market in Japan, but sampuru production has been hit by the Covid-19 pandemic, which reduced demand for dining out.
Sampuru makers hope more tourists will soon be allowed into the country to boost the restaurant industry, but they are also putting their unique skills to use elsewhere.
For example, Iwasaki artisans have made replica bananas at different degrees of ripeness for factories to use to train new employees.
Orders have also come in from IT sales merchants, who want to use mock 5G wi-fi routers in their presentations.
Meanwhile, at the exhibition, the more original offerings are delighting children and adults alike.
I think the number of restaurants using plastic food displays is decreasing, said Yutaka Nishio, 52.
It's interesting to preserve this as art. It's really great.