Fruit for THOUGHT
Lucy Gomes, 57, from Milton Keynes, is certainly getting her five a day…
An orange cat grins from ear to ear, with two beautiful birds of paradise next to it. Next to them is a group of baby penguins, a shark swimming in water and a skeleton staring out at the scene. Suddenly, a gigantic hand reaches down and pops one of the penguins into her mouth!
This might sound like a scene from a fantasy film, but it’s actually all taking place in my kitchen!
You see, I create elaborate sculptures from fruit and
vegetables using knives, skewers and cocktail sticks.
I can just look at a piece of fruit and I can just see an animal or character straight away.
Other times I’ll have an animal in mind and I’ll think about which fruit or vegetable I could use to make them.
I once made a crab out of giant red apples and a hedgehog from an avocado.
I love to make characters from food, such as Pikachu from
Pokemon and Disney’s Wall-e, as well as sculptures like a carousel with carriages made from watermelons and pumpkins.
My creations are always fresh and crisp, and sometimes they look too good to eat!
When food is pretty, it seems to taste even better.
I started my sculpting back in 2015.
I’d started wood carving as a hobby, but that soon became too expensive.
Then one day, I spotted an apple in the fruit bowl and, struck by inspiration, I grabbed a knife and began to carve flowers.
As a child, I liked to garnish dinner plates and arrange desserts beautifully.
Now I see food, and the inspiration strikes me.
I once had an idea while peeling a
clementine during lunch and went home and sculpted a car.
My daughter Nicole, 24, was so impressed with my creations that she took photos of them and posted them online.
That led me to having loads of followers on Instagram, and since then, I’ve even published three e-books: Carving Joy! Vegetables, Carving Joy! Fruits, and one for the season: Christmas Carving. Sometimes it can take me days to make a sculpture, and other times I can make up to 10 in one day. But my love for it never falters. I do it because it’s so much fun. The joy and the end result is always worth the effort. Follow Carvingjoy on Youtube and Instagram.