Food, Glorious Food

Ok, here's a quiz for you. What do the three following foods have in common? Have a look at the photos, then scroll down for the answer.


Here's photo number 1:





Now photo number 2. Hmmmm....tricky.





Photo number 3. Any clues yet?






Have you got it?








Think you know the answer?









Keep scrolling!











The answer is........









They're all made of plastic. Yes, that's right, plastic. Aren't they amazingly realistic? I took these photos outside a cafe in Osaka, and I actually had to go up and touch the food, just to make sure it wasn't real. Here are the dishes above on the table outside:



A lot of Japanese restaurants, if not most Japanese restaurants, have displays of plastic food either outside or in the window, and often the models are astonishingly accurate. I thought it was really quirky at first, but now I've been here for a while I realise it's actually a really good idea - you can see exactly what you're getting. Plus, if your Japanese isn't particularly brilliant (like mine), it means you have the option of dragging the waiter outside and pointing at what you want. Genius.