To start the process, restaurants usually freeze the dishes they want replicated and then ship them to the artisans, who make casting molds. These molds help the artisans reproduce realistic textures, depressions and tiny bumps on the surfaces of the fake food. The artisans fill the molds with synthetic materials, such as liquiddepends on what’s being made — for example, urethane is a good choice for soba soup, while PVC is better suited for creating panko coating.
Given sampuru’s intricate details and handmade parts, a hyperrealistic dish can cost $70 and up, or 10 times the cost of the actual food they’re representing.Yet more and more restaurants, including those outside Japan, are willing to spend a lot on high-quality display foods. In addition to enticing potential customers and
these replicas can show what’s being offered, which is particularly helpful for tourists who don't understand a menu in a language they’re unfamiliar with.yet his legacy lives on in storefronts across Japan and beyond. His company has been around for almost nine decades, offering replicas of almost anything you can imagine.