What if your breakfast suddenly transformed into a character from DuckTales, or your dessert into Tintin? Sounds quite amazing, and like something out of a dream. Under the artistic ministrations of Poulami Bhattacharyya, who goes by Kanasu (A Dream Interpreter) on Instagram, these things do happen.
With extraordinary expertise, she creates edible art — shaping characters and scenes on a plate. Poulami has no professional training. She is self-taught and motivated by her love for food. While she has been associated with art for a long time designing clothes and jewellery, creating food art came about during the lockdown last year.
Poulami’s work really slowed down during the first lockdown. But, she didn’t let it get her down and sought unique ways to keep herself busy. She began following vlogs and Instagram accounts of foreign food artists, and Kanasu’s edible creations were born.
Poulami Bhattacharyya began exploring her talent for food art as a lockdown project, and now creates eye-catching scenes and portraits Sayantan Bhattacharyya
Lockdown project turned passion
As social media can attest, food is a big part of families coming together and for individuals to find ways to pass time or rediscover interests. For Poulami, food has always been her forte and she loves to experiment with it. She wanted to create something aesthetically appealing and decided to use her plate as a canvas and cooked food as a medium. Along with trying out new recipes, she also decided to plate them in innovative ways.
An edible artwork of Krishna made with all things that Krishna is known to enjoy eating, such as ‘taaler bora’, ‘taaler luchi’ and ‘narkel nadu’ Sayantan Bhattacharyya
“If the person being served, be it a child or an adult, has a smile on their face after seeing it, my purpose is served,” says Poulami about her art. Her creations will appeal to every member of the house, irrespective of age. From Lion King’s Simba and the Dragon Warrior Po, to Bantul and Gopal Bhar, everyone has been featured on Poulomi’s ceramic canvas. She has also created portraits of gods and goddesses. On Janmashtami, she made a Krishna made with all the things Krishna is known to enjoy eating, such as taaler bora, taaler luchi and narkel nadu, and also created a Ganesh with laddoo and mihidana during Ganesh Chaturthi. Her portfolio includes portraits of personalities such as Satyajit Ray, Subhash Chandra Bose and Swami Vivekanada, among others, with utmost precision. Her creations are a treat not only for the stomach but also the eyes.
Poulami’s portfolio features Disney characters like Nemo, as well as portraits of famous people and gods and goddesses Sayantan Bhattacharyya
A varied portfolio
Her first creation was a tribute to Rabindranath Tagore. She created his face with rice flour on the occasion of his birth anniversary in May 2020 and posted her creation on different social media platforms. On receiving a positive response for her art, she began shaping different characters, mostly using cooked food. Being a Disney fan, it wasn’t long before her favourite characters made their way into her portfolio.
Poached eggs and bread, bharta and macher jhal, everything has become a part of her artwork. Poulami never uses any food colouring — choosing to work with the colours her ingredients and dishes bring her. Her aim is to serve food artistically. Sometimes, she decides to make something after the food has been cooked and at others things are made with the intention of creating an artwork.
Her food creations appeal to every age group and sensibility, with a selection of characters from Tintin and Baantul to Gopal Bhar Sayantan Bhattacharyya
It’s art and it’s food
When asked about inspiration and about what happens to the food after, she talks about the Bengali wedding tradition of totto. Bengalis have a tradition of presenting sweets in artistic ways when they are sent as part of the wedding totto. One sees butterflies, palanquins, even a bride and groom made of kheer. We appreciate them, but eat them as well. Similar is the case with her art.
It usually takes between two to five hours to create her art, and then it is all eaten. “It’s a little heart wrenching when I see my creation devoured, but we can’t really think of it that way. When people appreciate my hard work, it really is a satisfying feeling.”
Kanasu means dreamer in Kannada, and with her creativity and artwork she really has been making dreamlike sequences a reality. Her work has been receiving huge appreciation from people all over the world.
From poached eggs and bread to bharta and macher jhal, everything has become a part of Poulami’s artwork Sayantan Bhattacharyya