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Bridging People Through Food Art

Posted on June 2, 2020June 16, 2021 By Alexandra Wong No Comments on Bridging People Through Food Art

I was doing my usual lurking at the lively Global Malaysian Makan Minum Network FB Group when a photo stopped me short in my e-tracks.

“What a gorgeous looking bowl of hokkien mee!” I thought.

My mouth watered at the sight of succulent prawns swimming in an appetizing bowl of noodle soup topped with a seductive film of fiery prawn oil.

Then I scrolled down further and read the comments.

No way!

The bowl of noodles was a PAINTING.

Original link

A painting which looked so incredibly lifelike that many others, like me, had mistaken it for real food as well. The artist’s work has generated tremendous response in the FB group, eliciting hundreds of Likes and Shares every time she posted a photo of her latest illustration.

Who’s the artist creating food paintings that look good enough to eat?

Her name is Laura Raymond Boin. The eldest of six siblings, she was born in Kota Kinabalu and is married to a Penang boy. Previously a quality engineer, Laura is now a full-time homemaker with two sons, aged 14 and 10. She lived mostly in Penang but also in Korea and Japan due to her husband’s job.

Laura comes from an artistic family: her father drew and painted as a hobby and her youngest sister is a freelance artist doing mostly portraits. While Laura shared this creative streak, she didn’t really develop it since high school in order to focus on studies, work, and then family. She says, “You kinda always think of art as something that only certain people are capable of doing and if you do, it’s a struggle to pay the bills. At least that was the assumption.”

The idea of revisiting her artistic passion through food paintings came to Laura during the COVID19 pandemic. “We had gone on a long walk as we had avoided the subway due to the pandemic,” she explains. “The next day, my legs were so sore that all I wanted to do was sit down. That’s when I picked up a pencil and followed a Youtube video on how to draw a 3D looking water droplet. Looking at the finished result, I thought, ‘This doesn’t look bad!’”

Laura immediately placed an order for watercolour pencils. When they arrived, she started experimenting with drawing a cupcake and eventually ended up drawing a bowl of hokkien mee.

Explaining why she chose to draw food, Laura says, “A while ago, I watched Flavors of Youth, a Netflix anime show that explores the simple joys of life through sensual memories. One scene depicted animated noodles that looked really appetizing and I identified strongly with the theme of having food as part of your memory. That’s when I realized even animated food could look scrumptious and evoke nostalgia.

“When I posted it to my Facebook, the strong reaction encouraged me to challenge myself to do more Malaysian food illustrations.”

Let’s get to know Laura, in her own words.

You clearly have a strong artistic and creative streak. According to your website, you were even a portraiture photographer at one point! How did that happen?
One of my passions growing up was photography. I began to pursue this seriously in Busan when my husband was posted there between 2012-2017. My initial motivation was to go into serious portraiture photography without relying on my family as my only published works. What came next was a bonus. My clients were mostly English speaking clients who either lived in or visited Busan. I also did some interior photography for hotels which I also came to enjoy.

You didn’t have the luxury of focussing on your art until later in adulthood. What motivated you to get back into the groove?
Some years back, my ‘re-entry’ to art began when I tried adult colouring book and then paint-by-number kits. I enjoyed the process of colouring and blending but it felt very taxing to finish a page so I never did. I was busy working again when I was in Penang, dealing with work and children’s school but at the most stressful times, I enjoyed watercolour videos on Youtube. They felt very relaxing and I kept that vision of doing it myself.

Finally when we moved to Tokyo I had plans for my post working life, and that was to go back to portrait photography. Unfortunately, the pandemic happened and all things related to tourism had halted, including tour photography.

I found myself stuck sitting beside my 4th grade son to make sure he does his home learning. If I left his side, he would lose focus and doesn’t get his work done until late into the night. So, apart from scrolling Facebook, I had to do something else to make my time worthwhile.

Original link

Sounds like a dilemma that every mother is struggling with during the COVID19 pandemic. Most people who have seen your art would agree your time was worthwhile though, because your paintings are so lifelike! Please give us a little insight into your art creation process. 
First I choose a reference photo either from internet or my own photos. I have asked friends to send me pictures too. Then I would sketch the food in pencil. Next, I would start colouring with watercolours by choosing or mixing (if the colour needs tweaking) the base colour and tone of the different areas. With watercolours, you need to start light and build up to the darker colours. I will avoid colouring highlighted areas. Once I have laid down the first layer by making sure the colours are near to the reference photos – which I print out – I continue adding on details.

“Every step takes patience and they don’t look like anything in the beginning but as it progresses I can see it coming to life.”

The final touch up is done with colour pencils and highlight pen. Not forgetting shadows too, it’s an important part of making it look realistic. I add seemingly unimportant details as that’s how they could look realistic. Real food is not perfect. I think my experience as a photographer also helped in understanding colour saturation, temperature, hue and brightness. Every decision I’m making is based on that and if I make a mistake I can step back and see how I can correct it. I also take multiple photos during painting so I can see how it looks like after each application.

My first few works took me 2-3 days as I did them on top of daily chores, cooking and homeschooling. I hope to improve my time as my skills improve. Drawing realistically is challenging but I try my best to make every piece of work fun and enjoyable by everyone.

Posting your art on a global network with thousands of members is really brave. What motivated you to share your art with a bigger audience?
I actually just wanted to share with everyone how I miss Malaysian food during this pandemic. Instead of cooking food, I drew it! I didn’t expect members to have such a positive reaction and that gave me encouragement to create more Malaysian food drawings. I feel good to share my art vision with global Malaysians. Malaysian food never fails to invoke nostalgia of life back in Malaysia.

“Every overseas Malaysian has their own food that has the power to bring them ‘back home’.”

 

Original link

There are even fans calling on you to set up an Etsy account so that they can support your art. What’s your end game – do you have any plans to sell your artwork in future?
Actually I’ve been loving wall art more as I get older, but I can’t afford original art. By painting for myself, I can have my own wall art for my home, made by my own hands. But because I enjoy them, I’m hoping that other people can see my vision too. Some people have encouraged me to share my art by selling prints and that is going to keep me busy for a while, which is good.

I’ve always wanted to work from home, and this could be the way. I am currently growing my portfolio and my food illustrations Instagram. It’s all very new so I can’t maintain an Etsy account yet but I have opened an account with www.artpal.com where I uploaded some of my works for people to order (Artpal prints and ships to any country).

Although I would love to print them myself and ship them as a personal touch, printing can be more costly in Japan. I want to keep it cost-effective for Malaysians who are around the globe to have them. Furthermore, I’m still in my refining period where I spend the bulk of my time creating, so I watch Youtube and Skillshare videos to sharpen my skill.

I would love to diversify to other kinds of prints in the future like tote bags and calendars. I also hope to work with food brands that are open to using illustrations instead of food photography alone.

*****

We wish you all the best Laura, and can’t wait to see more of your works! Do check out Laura’s work at:

www.artpal.com/iartfood
www.instagram.com/iartfood

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Stories Tags:food art, Malaysian artist

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Who’s Ipohbunny, lah?

Welcome!

I’m Alexandra Wong, a self-taught Malaysian home cook on a mission to simplify and healthify recipes using affordable quality ingredients. I am a writer by profession, mostly known for my feelgood stories about people, travel and food.

ipohbunny

I make this granola Every Single Week. Its that go I make this granola Every Single Week. Its that good 😉 #granola #homemade #homemadegranola #cookwithipohbunny #granolarecipe #oats #wholefoods
"How's my burger?" "The flavour is quite good." "How's my burger?"

"The flavour is quite good."

Hubs' feedback stopped there, so I knew something was not right.

Know what I found out? That he and I have fundamentally very different concepts of what a good burger should be.

Having spent many years in the UK and US, his idea of a proper burger is a patty of mostly ground quality meat. Having grown up in Ipoh eating roadside budget burgers, my idea of a good burger is a moist patty that's much more tender inside because it's been stuffed with something called panade.

No, I didn't know what panade was either, until I Googled it up. Panade is bread soaked with milk, which you add to the meat to form a burger. The panade adds that oh so desirable moistness and juiciness to the burger. Yes, it won't taste as meat-dense as the meat-only burger patties that hubs is used to in the UK and US, but that's the taste I am used to. In fact, I find those meat-only burgers in high-end restaurants too beefy and meaty.

Anyway, here's how I made my burger

1. Cut up one slice bread into cubes. Add a 2 tbs milk to soak bread and crumble with fingers until it's mashed up like puree. This is your panade.
2. Dice up half a yellow onion finely. The acidity of the onion tenderises the meat.
3. Mix onion and panade with 250g minced beef ( you can add more if you want a beefier taste), salt, pepper, and enough egg to bind. Add egg slowly because you don't want too much liquid.
4. Shape into patties and panfry on both sides. Serve! :)

#homemadeburger #burger #hamburger #beefpatty #cookwithipohbunny #ipohbunnyrecipes #Malaysianhomecook #foodporn #meatlover #burgerrecipes
Wahhhh! Didn't expect so many of you to ask me for Wahhhh! Didn't expect so many of you to ask me for my chicken char siew recipe. Either I took a damn good photo, or .. you guys really really want to eat chicken char siew lol.

Ok, I can't take credit for the recipe because I compared and picked bits and pieces off recipes by other people. Most of the ingredients are quite predictable - hoisin sauce, soy sauces, honey/sugar, 5-spice powder - but the one thing taht surprised me was the addition of lam yue or fermented red beancurd. I read that it lends a distinct umami that can't be replicated by other ingredients. Well, I just happened to have a bottle, so I put it in. 

This isn't perfect, but I'm jotting it down for future references.
1) Mix together 2 tbs hoisin sauce, 1 tbs light soy sauce, 1 tbs dark soy sauce, 1 tbs honey/agave, white sugar to taste, and a pinch of five-spice powder. I didn't measure, just agak2 only so please bear this in mind!
2) Add 1-2 cubes of fermented red beancurd along with a tsp of the sauce it's submerged in. Mix everything together and taste if it's sweet/savoury enough.
3) Marinate your chicken chop in the sauce for several hours.
4) Pan fry on both sides. Done!

Important notes:
1) This is one of the most variable sauces around. By that I mean, some people like it sweet, some less so. I say, just taste the sauce before you marinate your chicken and adjust accordingly. I don't like too sweet so I reduced the sugar.
2) Which may be why my chicken didnt' char siew in the oven, although I tried grilling it at 200 C, basting it with the sauce several times, etc. Maybe not enough sugar to caramelise properly, so i ended up pan-frying the chicken in my nonstick sauce pan. Kau tim!

#Chineserecipes #chickencharsiew #bbqchicken #Ipohbunnyyrecipes #cookwithipohbunny #chickenrecipes #chicken #Malaysianhomecook #Malaysianfoodblogger
Stir fried celery with roasted cashews ❤️ Ser Stir fried celery with roasted cashews ❤️

Seriously. One of the tastiest #vegan dishes you'll eat in your life - and so healthy! A restaurant favourite that can be easily recreated at home with just five ingredients, the crunchy freshness of just-cooked celery goes so well with the creamy cashew.

1. Remove the stringy outer layer of celery stems with a vegetable peeler.

2. Slice diagonally across each stem to get 
3/4 cm thick slices.

3. Heat up 1 tbs oil in non stick pan. Add celery and sear for 1 minute, before browning. Remove from pan. 

4. In same pan, add garlic (and more oil if needed) to saute. Add back celery.

5. Add 1 tbs (vegetarian) oyster sauce and 3-4 tbs water. Stir to mix the liquids.

6. Cover with a lid and steam for a few minutes till your desired doneness. The time will depend on how crunchy you want your celery. Less time, more crunchy. Just eat a piece of the celery to decide.

7. Toss in roasted cashews, stir to mix and dish up!

#veganchinesefood #vegetarian #plantbased #plantbasedrecipes #celery #Chinesecooking #cookwithipohbunny #ipohbunnyrecipes #Malaysianhomecook #vegetarianrecipes
This salted egg bittergourd is so gorgeous!! 1. S This salted egg bittergourd is so gorgeous!!

1. Slice bittergourd into two length wise. Scoop out white pith and seeds. 
2. Slice bittergourd thinly. Rub with salt and leave aside for 15 min to remove bitterness. Wash off salt.
3. Boil salted duck egg for 10 minutes. Scoop out egg yolk and mash finely.
4. Heat up 1-2 tbs oil and lightly fry bittergourd slices for 3-4 minutes. Set aside.
5. In same oil, add chopped garlic and mashed egg yolk. Cook until mixture starts to foam.
6. Add 1/4 cup water (or more) and stir to mix and create a sauce. May be a bit watery at this stage, so add water slowly.
7. Add a pinch of sugar.
8. Now add back bittergourd, toss through, cover with lid and cook over low flame to reduce sauce until it has thickened to your desired consistency. 
9. Serve with white rice :)

Psst if you want my steamed egg recipe, check out my YT channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hkxFGOKXiJg 

#cookwithipohbunny #ipohbunnyrecipes #vegetarianrecipes #vegetarian #bittergourd #Chinesecooking #Malaysianhomecook
Zucchini puffs... Inspired by the incredibly creat Zucchini puffs... Inspired by the incredibly creative Chef @dan.giusti on @epicurious

Using @kawan_food roti malabar, egg, Zucchini and salt and pepper only.

Quick easy lunch :) 

#vegetarian #vegetariansnacks #cookwithipohbunny #ipohbunnyrecipes #puffpastry #vegetabletart
I smashed it!! My one and only #fudgybrownie rec I smashed it!!

My one and only #fudgybrownie recipe from now on. 

Cos it works

1/2 stick butter (60g)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 egg
Pinch of salt
50-60g dark chocolate
1 tbs unsweetened cocoa powder

1. Melt butter and dark chocolate.
2. Mix in sugar until sugar melts.
3. Whip egg until pale and frothy. Add to cream mixture.
4. Fold in flour, saltand cocoa powder.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes. Done!!

#brownie #brownierecipe #cookwithipohbunny #ipohbunnyrecipes #desserts
Mita Bakery from Kuching @mitaofficialkch kononnya Mita Bakery from Kuching @mitaofficialkch kononnya legendary. At least according to hubby, who got this cake during his biz trip.

One bite of their famous butter cheese cake and I can understand why. Sooo fragrant and moist even after 3 days. Its buttery without being heavy, know what I mean? Good #baking kungfu, this. That addition of cheese gives it a subtle hint of umami that just takes this to another level. When you slice it, it looks like white sandwich bread because the crumb is quite dense, so interesting! 

Gonna eat this very sparingly.

#buttercake #eatcake #cake #kuchingfood #Sarawakfood #foodblogger #Malaysianfoodblogger
I love all sorts of cakes, but carrot cake is sacr I love all sorts of cakes, but carrot cake is sacred territory.

My mum used to make it. Her cakes were wondrously crumbly and moist, and filled with so many goodies (We Ipoh people call it "toh liu") that nothing sold outside has ever, ever come close. 

Until @grumpyoldman_bakes

I didn't plan on ordering his cake, honestly. But I'd had to rush back to Ipoh for an emergency, and after some very stressful days, I figured I deserve a cake. Cakes make everything better right?

I'd read him waxing lyrical about his carrot cake and against my better judgement, I decided to order one. Gulp, risky. But what's life without some risk?

He was so sweet and helpful in his interactions, and even tolerated my unnecessary rambling (I express to destress). 

When I popped the box lid open, I gasped at how pretty it was. The whole cake was covered in thick frosting and topped with fresh walnuts. 

And then I cut a slice for mum and was even more shocked. You could see the grated carrot and nuts - it was so generous portioned - but the proof was in the tasting. MUm's tasting, to be exact.

She took a  bite and smiled approvingly. "It's so moist inside!"

That is the HIGHEST compliment, in my opinion, one can ever pay a carrot cake. So many out there guilty of dry, pebbly abominations. 

I took a bite and immediately noticed how fresh it tasted. And, I realised, tears springing to my eyes, how close it was to Mum's version, which I last ate more than 20 years ago. 

Thank you Chris for awakening these wonderful memories. 

#carrotcake #grumpyoldmanbakes #ipohbaker #homebaker #ipohhomebaker
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