Explore the World of Bonbon Art

Can food be art? More specifically, can chocolate bonbons convey aesthetics, emotions, and even ideas? I think the answer is yes. At least that’s the reaction I get when presenting my work at events like the annual fundraiser for the (Mikhail) Baryshnikov Arts Center in Manhattan: “These are art. I can’t eat them.”

Bonbons are my tiny canvas. Just as “haiku” have a formal structure, I’m limited by the surface area and volume available to me. However, those limitations offer unlimited creative potential. I can color, draw, and write poems on them. I can infuse them with surprising flavor and texture combinations.

It wasn’t until I applied to my bonbons “yusoku monyo” that I found my artistic voice. These patterns used by the Japanese royal court on their clothing, furniture, and architecture, beginning about 1000 years ago in Kyoto, remained hidden from commoners like me. But no longer. I work with a Japanese craftsman to design the patterned “stamps” I need, and when I explain the thoughts and ideas behind these patterns, people are drawn even further into the “bonbons as art” camp. But when they eventually try them, which they always do, the line between art and food disappears.

I am constantly refining my techniques and recipes as I push the artful components of bonbons into something equally breathtaking and delicious with an unmistakably Japanese sensibility.