Most restaurants in Japan have one thing in common: Sampuru. Sampuru are fake food samples crafted by artists to display the food options of the restaurant.
It seems unimportant, but it’s actually a huge business in Japan—a $90 million business to be exact.
They do this to market themselves to the public—consider it life-like advertising, making menus come alive.
Seeing the food is much better than reading about it, so it helps boost business. Talented sampuru artists are a hot commodity, too.
If a restaurant wants sampuru, they have to make the dish and then freeze it and ship it off to an artist who then uses it as a mold. From there, they craft and paint it to look as real as possible.
If this fake food is making you hungry, we’ll send your regards to the artist.