creating 'display' foods?!

[lastmika]

Hi everyone,

A close friend in the food business is looking to create some dishes to display at his restaurant/cafeteria. She needs them to be able to last for a long while preferably. The dishes usually include some vietnamese soup creations and other standard fried dishes. I thought it might be simpler to do the soups with gelatine or agar, but I'm really not even sure that would work! Any thoughts from this excellent community?

Mika

[Shalmanese]

Aren't display foods usually made of plastic? Theres an entire industry that does them in Japan. I have no idea where you would find one in the US, maybe ask the local japanese restaurants.

I can't imagine agar being a good idea unless you like the idea of furry food. It's what labs use specifically to culture bacteria and spores because it's an ideal growth medium.

[lastmika]

Ah It is true, I didnt think about asking in a japanese restaurant. The more I thought about it the more I realized that it would have to be plastic and not agar! But thanks for putting the furry food picture in my mind!

Anyone have an idea of which plastics to use exactly? Or have general experience with doing this?

[Gifted Gourmet]

Really, the only safe way to make display food is by purchasing the plastic items so popular in Oriental restaurants ... and, sure, they are even made here in the United States:

Faxfoods is one such dealer in "faux food" ...

I am betting that the restaurants who use these displays encourage diners to try new things as they look over the plastic array ...