US: Making art with fruit and veg
All it takes are a few garnishing knives purchased at a local retail store — combined with hours of practice.
Oh, and a few soothing words help as well.
“Sometimes I started talking to the fruit, ‘Don’t worry, I know I’m going to cut you up, but it’s just a plastic surgery. You’ll be prettier,’” consoles Benae.
Benae, 24, is from Cameroon, but don’t think for a moment that she’s engaging in some age-old cultural tradition when she takes a knife to a honeydew melon.
Fruit carving is more of an East Asian art form than West African, as demonstrated by the astonished reaction of folks back home.
“People were like ‘wow,’” said Benae of the spread she did her aunt’s wedding in Cameroon in 2011. “They hadn’t seen it before.”
Benae, who speaks five languages, started fruit carving in 2009 when she was attending college in Tunisia, thanks to a friend’s challenge.
She’s been practising hard at it ever since — mostly for fun, even while studying hotel, restaurant and tourism management at the University of Southern Mississippi. She lives with her aunt and uncle, Barbara and Jean Louis Benae.
Source: hattiesburgamerican.com
