Edible Art

“Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are”…so are the immortal words of a great gastronome!

	The Edible Book Festival is an international event which is held annually on April 1 since its inception in 2000.It is celebrated around the world and entries for this fest come from all over the world and are registered and submitted to www.books2eat.com. Events and entries are submitted from Australia, Brazil, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Mexico, Monaco, The Netherlands, Russia, USA (to name but a few). (Photo – depicts book title: Shades of Earl Grey by Laura Childs). For further information, see the original post
	This is a representation of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein. It is also from the annual Edible Book Festival. Its origin helps commemorate the birthday of French gastronome Jean-Anthelme Brillet-Savarin who wrote a witty meditation on food on April Fool’s Day “Eat Your Words; and so this is what people do. They create an edible theme around the title of a book and at the end of the competition, they simply deconstruct it through eating it. – Bon appétit! For further information see the original post.
	These wonderful delicacies are from the front window of the superlative Hopetoun Tea Rooms, in the Block Arcade, Melbourne. A visit to this city is not complete until you have secured either a luncheon spot or afternoon tea spot at this splendiforous olde-worlde institution. The tea room offers high tea seven days a week however, there are no reservations required for general dining, but at peak times, you will have to wait in the queue to get inside. For further details, click here.
	Frogs in the Pond. This is a great children’s tradition at birthday parties, and was recently glad to see that the tradition has spilled over to a new generation. The recipe is very simple – Make up some green jelly. When it is half set, place in a chocolate Freddo Frog (or equivalent) and wait for the jelly to set – before you know it – Frogs in a Pond – Reddit!
	As a teenager you learn new words, or new meanings for existing words. As a really mean example, a person may be referred to as ‘frigid’ – meaning they are really cold (in any sense of the term).  So recently, going through a country museum, seeing this particular piece, made me rethink the original ‘slur’ against someone who was referred to as ‘frigid’. However, this Frigid is an ice cream maker. For further information, click here.
	Vintage Cruise Ship Menu #1 Originally, menus were offered to consumers who would choose items of food from a chalk-board. In French this was known as “carte”, therefore, food selected via this method is referred to as “à la carte,”  or “according to the board.” Here we have an example of a front cover of an à la carte dining menu from a dinner service on board the former P&O cruise-ship, the SS Orsova, illustrated by Dorrit Dekk. For more information click here.
	Vintage Cruise Ship Menu #2 – Point to Point is the name of the cover art for this vintage Cruising Menu. It is one of a series of seven racecourse-themed menus designed for the Orient Line by Douglas Annand of Sydney. Point to Point relates to the steeplechase. By definition, all races are of a three mile length and are usually run on hunting horses. There is a race for women riders as well. For more information click here.
	Vintage Cruise Ship Menu #3. Looking for a classic authentic and vintage Christmas menu from the past? Then you might like to consider this offering which was offered 60 years ago and comes from the Shaw Savill Lines Christmas Day menu. To find out more, click here.
	Vintage Cruise Ship Menu #4. Here we have an example of cruise ship menu design. At each call to the dining room, whether it was breakfast, lunch, or dinner, each table had a welcoming menu which provided a variety of meal choices for each passenger. Often there were specialty themes, and of course, there were separate menus for children. This example of colourful menu is from a children’s menu entitled: “Orlando Gives a Party“ illustrated by Kathleen Hale. For more information click here.
	Italian modernist artist, painter, sculptor, illustrator, and designer, Mario Sironi was born 130 years ago on May 12th, 1885 in Sassari, on the island of Sardinia.  He decided to study painting and began attending the Scuola Libera del Nudo at the Accademia di Belle Arti di Roma where he began painting in a Divisionist style which; with fellow artists Balla, Boccioni and Severini, who later developed the “Futurism” style. The image seen left is “La Giustizia” (Justice) and used as a First class menú cover for the  cruise ship Achille Lauro Motonave, for Saturday 24 June, 1967. For further details, see original post.
	I saw a show on TV a while ago where the presenters focussed on a private collector’s specialty – Decorative label surrounds for tinned tomatoes – especially those from Italy and Spain.  So, naturally I became more interested on tinned tomatoes on the shelves of local supermarkets, delicatessens and other artisan produce stores.  One of the more decorative tins I have managed to locate is that of the Annalisa tinned tomato varieties. For further details, see my original post.