Chiu Chun-kong
Ever come across food that is so pretty that you just couldn’t bring yourself to eat it? Or gone to a restaurant and thought, “The food is NOT how it looked in the ad”? Chiu Chun-kong, food stylist and sculptor, talks to Samuel Lai about his delicious passion for food aesthetics.
HK Magazine: Would you view food sculpting as art?
Chiu Chun-kong: Food sculpting is art, but it is by nature a short-lived art. You take ice sculptures in Hong Kong, for instance. No matter how finely polished it is, the ice sculpture’s destiny is to turn into an ordinary pile of water. An elaborate rose petal cake—or any edible food sculpture—must be eaten. A chocolate sculpture melts. A fruit sculpture is eventually trashed. It is every food sculpture’s fate to be destroyed—irreversible, unalterable. Its death is predetermined even before its birth. It is sad, in a way. But doesn’t the same apply to all of us?
HK: “Art is man’s distinctly human way of fighting death,” said acclaimed sculptor Leonard Baskin. Most sculptors and artists want their work to be permanent, attempting to achieve immortality through their art pieces. Do you ever have such a thought?
CC: Indeed I have. I am currently learning eggshell sculpting. I picked eggs because they are the most perpetual of all edible materials, and it is still food sculpting in essence. It is extremely challenging, as it requires meticulous precision to sculpt with such a fragile material.
HK: How did you become a food sculptor?
CC: I grew up in a rural village, and my brother and I used to make our own toys with the materials around us, such as clay, wood and rocks. We liked to make our own pit-fired pottery and carve wooden sticks into sabers and guns. You could say that I have had a thing for arts and crafts since childhood. Food sculpting combines my childhood hobby and my job, and I very much enjoy using food as my creative medium.
HK: We understand you mainly work as a food stylist now. What exactly do you do?
CC: I am like a make-up artist for food. A chef’s primary concern is always the taste of the food—its flavor, its texture. My concern as a food stylist, however, is slightly different. When McDonalds or Pizza Hut finds me to shoot ads, they only care about how the food looks.
And this is where I come in. The taste of the food is no longer important—appearance is key! Consider shooting ads for whipping cream or hot fudge, for example. Under the strong lighting required for photography, actual ice cream will melt in less than three minutes. A special type of ice cream that stays intact for hours in room temperature is hence needed. The material used is still edible, and it looks very appealing on TV, but it is in no way close to any type of ice cream you have ever tasted. Is non-melting ice cream still ice cream? That’s some food for thought for you.
HK: Do you ever wish to make food that is both delicious and artistic?
CC: I do! My dream is to open a restaurant that presents exquisite and visually stunning dishes. From starters, appetizers, main courses and desserts to side dishes, I want all of them to be a delicious art piece. I used to be a food sculptor in numerous hotels, so that is closer to what I did back then anyway: to make food—that can actually be eaten—look good.