The distinction between art and food can be a fine one. Tokyo-based illustrator Takayo Kiyota, AKA Tama-chan, has been crafting miniature masterpieces out of rice and seaweed for 15 years. “I thought, if you could draw freely using the sushi roll technique handed down as a traditional local dish,” she says, “wouldn’t it be possible to create a new form of edible art?” Her creations take many forms, including depictions of famous paintings by Van Gogh, Picasso and Frida Kahlo. “For Japanese people, rice is something familiar and important. People from other countries can draw on paper or canvas, but drawing on rice is an expression unique to Japanese people.”
