Japan House London Introduces Food Replica Culture

London, Oct. 8 (Jiji Press)--Japan House London, a Japanese culture center, is introducing replica food from the Asian country in its latest exhibition featuring specialties from each of the country’s 47 prefectures.

Food replicas, which were first made in Japan and are displayed at restaurants across the country, have recently become popular among foreign tourists as souvenirs.

Elaborately made food samples that could be mistaken for real food are a unique Japanese culture, Simon Wright, director of programing at Japan House London, said of the exhibition, titled, “Looks Delicious! Exploring Japan’s food replica culture.”

The highlight of the exhibition that began last Wednesday is dishes from each prefecture arranged on a table in the shape of the Japanese archipelago, including “zunda mochi” rice cakes coated with a crushed sweet soybean paste from Miyagi Prefecture, northeastern Japan, and “Shinshu soba” buckwheat noodles from Nagano Prefecture, central Japan.

In an interactive zone, visitors can create their own “bento” boxed meals using replica food. Christina Shin, 25, said with a smile: “The craft is really cool. If a pub had this and they displayed all the food they sold, I would buy it.”

[Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]