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    EDIBLE ART SHOW

  • Jan-Michael Stump

    EDIBLE ART SHOW
March 1, 2010

Edible art to go on display

By VANESSA McCRAY

TRAVERSE CITY -- Pleasanton Brick Oven Bakery already calls itself an "artisan bakery."

But the bakers will add some extra artistic flourishes to their crusty creations when they enter the Edible Art Show on March 6 at The Village at Grand Traverse Commons. The show will feature merchants, chefs and artists from the restaurants and shops located on the grounds of the former state hospital in Traverse City. Vendors from the village's indoor farmers market also will participate.

Gerard Grabowski, Pleasanton's co-owner, said the bakery's staff are brainstorming how to do something extra special with baked goods.

"(We are) definitely going to do some large artisan loaves with little designs on the top," he said. "I think with our creative juices here we are going to come up with something we will be able to eat."

The show, called "We Art What We Eat," will take place from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., the regular hours of the farmers market. Works of art made from food will be on display in storefront windows and throughout the Mercato area. Market visitors can buy $1 tickets to vote for their favorite pieces. Proceeds benefit local food banks.

Edible art made by entrants who have the necessary health department and agriculture licensing will be sold in a silent auction. The other entries, while made of food, will not be eaten, said Mini Minervini, of The Minervini Group. The group is redeveloping the Commons site.

The artwork must be fashioned without glue or Styrofoam, but chicken wire, dowels, toothpicks and natural adhesives such as frosting, syrup and honey are allowed. Minervini said some of the food art she's seen are "creative faces made out of carrots and tomatoes." In a call for entries, she provided examples of edible art, such as a copy of a Vincent Van Gogh self-portrait using leeks.

"Usually, they do little sculptures made out of fruits and vegetables," she said.

Sweet Asylum plans to construct a log cabin out of one of the shop's speciality treats -- pretzel rods dipped in chocolate and coated in candies, nuts or sprinkles. Manager Tricia Frey said they will use their "Stix & Stones" snack mix, packed with smoked paprika roasted peanuts, sesame sticks and pretzel pieces, to create the ground area outside the house. They also plan to make flowers and a little girl that looks like the store's logo.

"We are trying to make sure it is completely edible," Frey said.

The art show also will include a chance for children to make pies with help from the Grand Traverse Pie Co.

Grabowski is eager to see what other entrants come up with for the event.

"What's neat is that there are so many artisan food people in this town now. We've been doing this 17 years, and we were kind of at the beginning stages of all this local artisan food movement and now it's actually evolved to the point where we can ... have an edible art show," he said.

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