Walk past almost any restaurant in Japan and its windows will be filled with wax food replicas enticing hungry customers. Gujo Hachiman in rural Gifu Prefecture in Japan is the heart of this food replica production and the first replica workshop, Iwasaki Mokei (Sample Village Iwasaki) has been in the craft since 1932. We visited the workshop in 2014 where we participated in a hands-on food replica experience.
We also picked up this Iwasaki Sample ‘n Cooking Curry Rice from their workshop to make back home. Fast forward 5 years later and I’ve finally found time to make it. The kit cost ¥2000 (excl. tax) at the time and can also be purchased at one of their three Ganso Shokuhin Sample-ya stores in Tōkyō and Yokohama.
Each kit contained the components for assembling a wax model of curry rice, including the rice grains, onion, pork, potato, carrot, fukujinzuke (pickled red daikon) and of course, the curry roux and bowl.
From start to finish, creating the bowl of curry rice takes around 2 days. The initial assembly involves preparing the rice (mixing with a glue), softening the wax for the onion and pork for cutting into smaller pieces, and arranging the ingredients on the rice. This first step takes about 40 minutes, after which 1 day is spent waiting for the glue in the rice and the fukujinzuke (pickled red daikon) to dry, and another day is spent waiting for the curry roux to set before spraying with a sealing spray.
This Iwasaki Sample ‘n Cooking Curry Rice was produced in Japan and purchased in Gujo Hachiman, Gifu, Japan in 2014.