Kawaii is the Japanese term that equates to "cute" in English. It is applied to a wide range of things from fashion style, to toys, to stationery, and even to food. While there is a wide range of kawaii food possibilities, this article is a starter to help you think of ways to make your own kawaii food creations.
Steps
- Always think "cute". The food designs should be cute and appealing to the eye, as well as the accompanying serving dishes. Ways to help achieve this include:
- Using small shapes and small portions.
- Using cute colors. Pastels or very bright colors can be cute when properly matched.
- Using faces and happy expressions.
- Keeping the designs "fun". Fun motifs help to make the food "cute"; think such fun things as monsters with smiles, winking hearts, baby creatures with huge eyes, grinning hamsters, etc., as designs.
- Match the designs for size. While keeping everything small, evenly matched sizing can help create an overall cuteness.
- Use animal designs. Animal shapes are ideal kawaii food candidates as they're easy to replicate using food pieces, with many different forms.
- Make food appear like an animal. Many Japanese kawaii food designs turn the food into animals such as pigs, bears, sheep, cats, etc. The chefs tend to use seaweed, tofu, olives, egg, etc. to create face shapes, ears, whiskers, tails, snouts, fur, etc.
- Use existing animal shaped items such as chocolate, biscuits, etc., and add these onto food shapes.
- Make kawaii bento in a box. A bento box is a common target for kawaii in Japan. There are so many possibilities for making the entire lunch box look cute, to make it irresistible. As well as the animal shapes described above, some other ideas include:
- Adding animal shapes to food pieces, or decorating food with animal designs, such as using frosting.
- Cutting or molding food into stars, circles, hearts, flowers, and other cute shapes. You can use biscuit (cookie) cutters or chocolate moulds to make shapes.
- Making food appear as if it is a small landscape, such as mini trees, bushes, lakes, etc.
- Making tech designs, such as robots, computers, smartphones, mice, etc.
- Use cute implements and serving dishes to serve the food in. Find cups, plates, cutlery, etc., with cute designs, such as faces, patterns, animals, etc. for serving the food and dividing into distinct portions.
- Make or bake kawaii sweets and baked goods. There are many possibilities with sweets, candies, cakes, and pastries to make them kawaii! Remember that it is about small size, cute shape, and even cuter decorative designs and faces. Here are some examples:
- Candies
- Chocolates
- Baked goodies
- Cookies and Biscuits (cookies)
- Make Chocolate Hazelnut Buns.
- You can purchase many cute sweets from a store specializing in Japanese candies if you don't feel clever enough to make your own.
Tips
- Kids can have a lot of fun helping to make kawaii food. Equally, kawaii food can encourage kids to eat things they'd not touch normally!
- Use cookie cutters on bread to make cute sandwich shapes.
Things You'll Need
- Food items as explained in steps
- Appropriate kawaii serving dishes
- Decorative accessories
- Japanese sweets
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