Looking Good: Playing with Your Food Holland America Style

April 6, 2021 Wallace Immen Cruises, Food & Drink, Holland America Line 1
My food Face Day self portrait--Fruit salad and photo by Wallace Immen

I know, I know: Mom always told you not to play with your food. But when a chef known for being an artist on plates invites you to have fun with food, there’s only one choice: indulge.

April 6 was National Food Faces Day, a celebration cooked up by Holland America Line to get us dreaming about cruising again.

I was invited by Holland America’s Master Chef Rudi Sodamin to gather up some ingredients and play with them until they resemble something he might create. The ingredients were sweet: a lot of colorful fresh fruits and a touch of whimsey.

If the face I created–that heads this story–is self-portrait it proves that after a year of social distancing I really need a cruise.  

While we were playing with our food in a conference call with a group of travel experts, Chef Rudi described how he began giving plates personalities using vegetables, fruit, meats, fish, grains and sweets. It started as a whim in a shipboard galley to entertain the crew.

“When I’d finished working in the kitchen, I would take leftover food and say I’m in an artistic mood and all the cooks would gather around and say make another one. I realized how happy it made everyone. I started to photograph them. It’s fun and it makes people smile. It doesn’t take much work and if I can do it you can do it.” In 2018 he published an art book, Food Faces, featuring more than 150 images of his fanciful, edible cast of characters.

A couple of Chef Rudi Sodamin’s creations–courtesy Holland America

Fun fact: Rudi is an identical triplet from Austria and their shared birthday is April 6. Add a cupcake with candles to the mix and Food Faces Day was a birthday party as well. Birthday or not, food should always be fun, he says.

Rudi is the inspiration of the gourmet Sel de Mer restaurants on Holland America ships and the plates in the restaurant feature his food artworks. During the conference call, there was no news yet on when Holland America will be sailing again, but we were told they’re working on it and there will be an announcement soon.

Meanwhile, once I’d made my food face there was no option but to indulge in a tasty fruit salad.

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About Wallace Immen 755 Articles
Wallace Immen is Executive Editor of The Cruisington Times, the Best in Cruising, Travel, Food and Fun. He's sailed on all of the world's seas to ports in over 100 countries and travelled on every continent.
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