March 18, 2002

Play With Your Food

“The Secret Life of Food,” by Clare Crespo

By all means. Go ahead. For anyone whose hand was ever slapped for playing with the Mac & Cheese, here’s redemption: a wild, irresistible world of edible sculpture, created by Clare Crespo. Martha Stewart? Not!

The best thing we’ve picked up in ages, The Secret Life of Food just hit stores. Cancel your dinner plans, because Crespo makes food fun. Baked potatoes + green beans = flip-flops? Yup. Or try a Jell-O Aquarium. Alongside Eric Staudenmaier’s colorful photographs, Crespo offers recipes and assembly instructions. Cooking for kids? Try adorable chocolate mice or sushi cupcakes. Your inner child will be so happy.

Some culinary dioramas are downright creepy: skeleton gingerbread, marzipan feet, and meatballs that look like eyeballs. On the other handwich (yes, Crespo makes them too), who wouldn’t eat a postcard cookie addressed to their stomach?

Not artistic? That’s okay. If you can’t build it, eat it.

Available online at amazon.com.