In the restaurant window, so shiny and delicious. Sampuru fake food models look good enough to eat. But they're handmade replicas.
When I watched Big Bird in Japan as a kid, one scene in particular stuck in my memory, even decades afterwards.
In one scene, Big Bird stops in front of a restaurant and looks at the food displayed in the window. He demands to eat the food that’s in the display and, to his disappointment, discovers that it’s not real food at all, just a plastic replica.
Known in Japan as sampuru サンプル, or “sample,” this waxy, fake food has been around for nearly 100 years and, over time, has evolved beyond restaurant windows.
Nowadays, you can get this fake food in any form you want: keychains, flash drives, cell phone charms, and even fake food iPhone cases.
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