Prudence Staite: All you can see, is all you can eat

Are you a chocolate lover who since childhood was so insanely in love with it that wanted to have either a chocolate fountain right in your bedroom or probably dreamt of mouth watering palaces where you could live, feel or walk or take a chocolate bath? Yummy! Isn’t? Well, One World News has someone for you, who can do exactly what you have been thinking since ages or probably beyond that.

Meet Prudence Staite, a food and art lover, who has scrumptiously blended art with choclates which people would happily EAT. Yes, you read that right. In an exclusive conversation with Prudence, One World News got to know her journey and , we bring the same appetizing journey to you:

Chocolate Life size sofa, made from Galaxy Chocolate for Galaxy.

Prudence always wanted to be a food artist but as she grew up, she realized that there is nothing called ‘food artist’. She had only two options, either to take-up art as a career or be a chef. “I always drew with my father and cooked with my mother and over the years the decision to choose a career became very hard.

Prudence always wanted to be a food artist but as she grew up, she realized that there is nothing called ‘food artist’. She had only two options, either to take-up art as a career or be a chef. “I always drew with my father and cooked with my mother and over the years the decision to choose a career became very hard.

“Studying an art degree gave me an overall discipline as an artist. I experimented with lots of techniques and it helped me to develop my desire to create food art, although somewhat unusual to what the art schools were used too. It was not easy to do something different and break the mould, but I had to do it. My passion for proving that food in itself is an art was all I could think about.”

Christmas Street Scene made from Matthew Walker Christmas pudding ingredients for Matthew Walker, photo by Shaun Walker, www.sawphotography.co.uk

“There were no books on food art, or how to sculpt chocolate, nothing. So, I had no option but to experiment endlessly to make my ideas work. I loved the history of art and culture of the Victorian era where decoration of food, interiors and art was very opulent and I started to see connections between these.

To me, mahogany looked like dark chocolate, and lace work looked like icing. So I made, edible solid dark chocolate skirting boards, interiors you could eat, as a lot of the art and interiors of that time looked edible. And from that, I looked at the first thing I was taught to study as an artist, the self-portrait, and combined them both, and the chocolate portrait was created. I made a lot of these, and I liked the fact that people could eat me! My artwork stimulated all the senses, touch, taste, vision, smell and even hearing the chocolate break up and being bitten into was amazing. Finally, I had created interactive artwork.”

Since 15 long years, Prudence has been making a lot of things out of chocolate. Her art and her work, both are bespoke and that is what makes it more challenging yet interesting for her. “I always look at different ways each artwork could be in, what it could look like and how it could be created. I work with my team to create the right result. Also, everything has to be created under strict food hygiene rules to make it safe to eat. So, a lot of work goes into making each artwork perfect.”

Dita von Cheese made with Low Low cheese for Low Low, Kerry foods. Life size lady made from cheese with Prudence Staite.

“Temperature does play an important part. The ideal temperature for chocolate is 15oC – 21oC, I aim for 20oC. Max 65% humidity. Most of my work is solid chocolate so, it tends to be more robust than hollow chocolate. However, direct heat and sunlight is a problem, so we need to keep chocolates away from that, plus any strong odors. I do not recommend storing chocolate in a fridge, unless the room temperature cannot be achieved. If you do store chocolate in the fridge, you really should leave it wrapped until it has come up to room temperature before unwrapping.”

“The artworks made with fresh foods such as fruit and vegetables are mostly made, photographed and then eaten. So they don’t last for very long. Lemon juice can help preserve it for a while and there are a few more tricks I have developed too.” Normally her art-work has a shelf-life of 12-months and every product is clearly labeled and has storage details, best before dates, ingredients in quantity format, allergen information and any other relevant information.

When even after eating a lot of chocolate your tummy wants more, then how could we not fill our appetite of asking questions which were framing in our mind, as she was speaking about her delicious food-art? So, we asked her few more questions,

Stonehenge made from chips, Photo by Shaun Walker, www.sawphotography.co.uk

You started with portraits, how did you get the right features with chocolate?

I studied my face; in the same way that artists create self portraits, I did pencil drawings, pastel sketches, even etching paper and using cocoa powder to reveal the lines. I wanted to use 2 tones of chocolate for the portraits ideally, blending pop art style with food. I loved the fact that a lot of pop art featured food products, so I wanted to take that one step further and use food products to make the artwork.

Thick oil paint also looks like icing or melted chocolate, I always thought that Fauvism looked like you could lick the canvas and eat the thick paint. Gold gilt frames also look like you could peel off the shiny gold and eat them, like you do with gold foil wrapped Easter bunnies. So that sent me on a mission to create edible picture frames from solid chocolate with an edible gold finish.

This was not easy and took a lot of hard work to make it possible. It was before the huge amount of cake decorating supplies and gadgets that you can get now! I made my own food safe moulds, so I could cast chocolate into frames, and then I presented each chocolate portrait with one too.

Life size Cheese Tractor, made from Cheddar for Lidl Ireland. Photo by Food is Art Ltd

My chocolate portraits are edible in its entirety; you can bite through the whole thing! Even the canvas is solid chocolate. They are presented as an entirely edible work of art. Over the years, I have made a huge amount, and I also combine the techniques and styles of mosaics with chocolate shapes to make larger chocolate portraits.

Do you feel hurt when people eat-up your art-work?

Not at all, it is the part of the interactive experience that people have with my artwork, and I love seeing them enjoy food and art together. My work is designed for people to come together and enjoy food art together, to enjoy its magic.

How long does it take to make these sculptures?

It can vary from a day to months and it takes a lot of planning to make large sculptures. So, it’s hard to say, but a rough idea is two weeks for a life size human head sculpture and two months for an installation, like a walk in wardrobe or closet.

Life size walk in wardrobe made from chocolate, Photo by Food is Art Ltd

Other than chocolate what else have you worked upon and how have been the experience?

I have worked with all types of food, including bread, cake, salad, sweets, cereal, cheese, pizza, pasta, baked beans, toast, roast dinner, vegetables, fruits, jams, syrups, marmite, and even meat, which was the most bizarre but still made some lovely bouquets of roses. Each food has its own way of working, and like with all of my work I have to spend time to make it work. Sometimes, I also make mosaics and sculptures with non-food items, like baubles, beads, paper, but not at the same time as working with food! However food is my passion.

What are the difficulties in this new-form of art?

Each artwork has to be well planned and often we have to have a strict schedule as we are working with fresh food that is going to be eaten, so we cannot spend weeks on a sculpture or painting, like most other artists would do. So I have to get everyone working as a team to make it happen.

Head sculptures are one of the hardest sculptures to do, and I often do not have time to meet the person, so I have to work from photographs. This involves a lot of studying and can be quite a journey!

When I first started making food art over 15 years ago, there were no books about food art, and not many food artists worldwide really, in recent years there are more people making food art, which is great and I am glad to have been a part of the early days and glad about the fact that food is considered an art.

Sweet Molly Malone with Prudence Staite, made from Cadbury Dairy Milk for Cadbury Ireland. (Life size 500kg sculpture of a lady)

So far, how has your work been received?

I do get lots of lovely comments, so I hope that people like my work and will continue to like what I create.

While travelling, it is quite possible that the products get damaged, how do you make sure they reach the customer safe and in one piece?

All the chocolate sculptures are well packaged. We take a huge amount of time to get this right. Lots of bubble wrap! Sometimes especially with the larger sculptures we have to assemble them onsite.

How do you take care of packaging?

All packaging that is in direct contact with the chocolate/food is food grade. We then use other packaging materials to pack them, and also have bespoke cardboard boxes made for each sculpture.

How has been your journey so far?

Very exciting and amazing, my work has taken me all over the world. I have met and worked with some really wonderful people. I still have a lot that I want to do, and places that I would like to make food artwork in.

(L to R) Giant gingerbread house and sweetie garden, Photo by Food is Art Ltd & Edible forest, made from fresh vegetables and fruits, Photo by Food is Art Ltd

Do you take classes or conduct workshops?

I have done community food art events, once I worked with 60 people over a period of six months to make an edible interactive artwork for BBC. That was wonderful. I have also worked with schools where I use food art as a way of developing skills for children.

Well, after reading so much about chocolates, we are sure that you could be craving for it (not joking, but even we fetched some from market the moment we walked off from the conversation). However, we would have loved to feel and see something like this in India and we wish she soon plans to visit here to give us a yummylicious experience of falling in love with chocolates.