Carving Food: An
Edible Art Form
From carving fruit
sticks to fruit flowers, carving fruit
is definitely another form of art.
Obviously, carving fruit is nothing new
and it's a popular practice that has
worldwide appeal. Most of us have seen
the carved watermelon (usually with a
handle) filled with a variety of melon
balls, grapes, and pineapple
mini-squares. But is carved fruit always
meant to be edible? Not always.
The practice of
carving pumpkins goes way back, and it
has symbolic meaning associated with
scaring away demonic forces. This
practice has not only become popular in
the United States, but it is a popular
in other countries. "In Ireland
and Scotland, people began to make their
own versions of Jack’s lanterns by
carving scary faces into turnips or
potatoes and placing them into windows
or near doors to frighten away Stingy
Jack and other wandering evil spirits.
In England, large beets are used.
Immigrants from these countries brought
the jack o’lantern tradition with them
when they came to the United States.
They soon found that pumpkins, a fruit
native to America, make perfect jack
o’lanterns."
(urbanext.uiuc.edu/pumpkins/history.html)
Ice
Sculptures for buffet tables is another
edible art form, but typically the
melted water is not preserved for
drinking purposes. As for this example
(to the left), it shows an ice
sculptured cruise ship surrounded by
shrimp. It looks so professional and is
a unique artistic expression. Even if
the ice was formed from a mold, the
presentation and concept with the
surrounding shrimp qualifies it as being
artistic, clever, and visually
appealing!
Remember, carving is not limited to clay
or wood. All food items are fun to carve
creatively! Carving edible food for
hors' douves can be very
rewarding.
Written September 2007 by Debbie Jensen
