To mark England’s Euros campaign, Michelle Wibowo spent over 120 hours creating footballers like Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka entirely from sushi, writes Rana Rastegari
Food artist Michelle Wibowo has teamed up with Yutaka, a leading Japanese ingredient brand, to create Walthamstow born British icon Harry Kane in sushi form, unveiled today at Casildart Gallery.
Ahead of the upcoming England match against Denmark on Thursday (20th June), Michelle has spent over 120 hours creating footballers like Harry Kane and Bukayo Saka entirely from sushi. She used traditional sushi elements like rice, smoked salmon and pickled ginger.
Brand new research has revealed that nine in ten Britons agree that creativity in food is important, however, a quarter admit that their own meals lack variety. As a result, Wibowo created a series of British icons in sushi form to encourage people to get more creative with their meals. These were displayed as part of an exhibition by Yutaka.
Michelle stated: “I’m used to creating sculptures from unconventional materials, but working with sushi ingredients was a whole other kettle of fish!”
The line up included stars such as ‘Edamame Sheeran’, ‘Eelton John’, ‘Alison Salmond’, ‘Bukayo Sake’ and Walthamstow born football star ‘Herring Kane’ who grew up in Chingford. Each portrait is 18cm tall and 10cm wide.
This story is published by Waltham Forest Echo, Waltham Forest's free monthly newspaper and free news website. We are a not-for-profit publication, published by a small social enterprise. We have no rich backers and rely on the support of our readers. Donate or become a supporter.
Michelle added: “I hope people find the portraits as hilarious as I do and maybe even feel inspired to have a go themselves to mix things up in the kitchen. Remember, all art is subjective!”
Ken Furukawa, CEO of Tazaki Foods, which is a Japanese food importer and developer that owns Yutaka, said: “We wanted to create an exhibition that celebrates the diversity and creativity of Japanese cuisine, and inspires you to be adventurous at home in the kitchen.”
“Sushi has become somewhat of a national dish here in the UK, so it felt right that we honoured this special relationship by recreating some of Britain’s most iconic faces out of Yutaka’s own sushi-making ingredients”.
To prevent excess food waste, Yutaka donated several boxes of unused product and ingredients to a central London food bank.
To encourage people to discover how easy it is to make creative and fun meals at home, Yutaka is launching a competition on Instagram and Facebook on international sushi day (June 18th), inviting people at home to make their own sushi self-portraits.
The competition will run until July 20th and can be found under #YutakaSushiMe. There are 25 £30 gift vouchers offered for winners and the top prize is a private sushi making class with a professional sushi chef for up to four people.
Get involved by going to Yutaka’s Instagram and Facebook channels
No news is bad news
Independent news outlets like ours – reporting for the community without rich backers – are under threat of closure, turning British towns into news deserts.
The audiences they serve know less, understand less, and can do less.
If our coverage has helped you understand our community a little bit better, please consider supporting us with a monthly, yearly or one-off donation.
Choose the news. Don’t lose the news.
Monthly direct debit
Annual direct debit
£5 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else, £10 per month supporters get a digital copy of each month’s paper before anyone else and a print copy posted to them each month. £50 annual supporters get a digital copy of each month's paper before anyone else.
More information on supporting us monthly or annually
More Information about donations