Host： You know， when you go to a restaurant and they have a plate with the daily special on display？ Well， in Japan， restaurants often have their entire menu on display. Looks good too， like its ready to eat， except you cant because the food is made of plastic. Turns out that all of that fake sushi， Ramen and chicken katsu curry is made on one street in Tokyo， Kappabashi Street.

Steve Dolinsky （Food writer）： Kappabashi is kind of the local source for all the housewares， kitchenwares. You see a lot of chefs shopping over there to fill their restaurants with products， but you also see some of these “Shokuhin Sanpuru” stores. They make these samples of food. Pretty much， if you can eat something on this planet， it can be replicated in Tokyo.

Host： A lot of restaurants in Japan do this. So， if Im a restaurateur， what do I do？ Take my menu down to Kappabashi Street， and one of these little factories will create models of my food for me？

Steve： Exactly. The sample store I went to was Maiduru. Theyve been around since 1948. They actually want the restaurateurs and chefs to bring the food in. Sometimes， they said， people send it in via mail. This is not just for restaurants in Japan. These are for restaurants all over the world. If youve been to an Asian restaurant anywhere in America， youve been to Chinatown somewhere， and you see all that plastic food in the front window， chances are it came from Kappabashi Street， actually from some of the factories just outside of Tokyo， like this Maiduru that I visited earlier today.

Host： The place like Maiduru， what do their workshops look like？ More like a kitchen or more like an artists studio？

Steve： Yeah， its something out of an artists studio. People hunched over wooden tables， wearing masks， being very meticulous， painting things， forming things， pulling moulds out of ovens. I mean， we saw these women that were airbrushing lobsters and lemons and hand painting the little fat streaks on top of Wagyu beef， or pieces of Maguro tuna， I mean really， really intricate work. Some of these people went to art schools; some just have a really good eye for food.

Host： So， how did all this start？ I mean， whats the history？

Steve： After World War II， a lot of westerners started coming to Japan， and it was kind of a two-way street. They couldnt really understand the local food， the Soba， the Udon， the traditional food here， and then the Japanese couldnt understand what hamburgers or hot dogs were， and so you had to figure out a way to illustrate it， and it just made the most sense to create some kind of a model. Its been around since World War II.

Host： Its incredible. Its a kind of simple fix， you know， basically pointing at something to overcome these linguistic and cultural misunderstandings.

Steve： Exactly. I asked the question， like， “Do you have premade sets， or do people actually want customized things？” and they showed me this incredible room full， I mean， floor to ceiling， full of boxes， with all kinds of ingredients that you can literally create yourself. So， do you want Shitaki mushrooms sliced or chopped？ Do you want Enoki mushrooms？ Do you want shrimp thats cooked？ Do you want， you know， different kinds of eggs？ I mean you can literally assemble anything you want into a plate， and then theyve got somebody wholl look at the picture of whatever the restaurant wants， and then they will recreate this exact dish.

Host： I mean， given the level of artisanship， what costs more， the real piece of a Sashimi or the fake piece？

Steve： The pieces are expensive. I looked at just like a little piece of nigiri， which is a piece of fish over rice， anywhere between $8.00 and $14.00， for one piece.

Host： What was the most realistic piece of food you saw， where you were almost ready to sink your teeth into it？

Steve： Definitely the Ramen. Im a big Ramen fan. Ive been kind of in a Ramen jag while Im in Tokyo， and just seeing those slices of pork， the fish cake， the noodles coming out of the steaming broth. It just looks so real. Its incredible what these folks are able to， to replicate just using， you know， paint and their imaginations.

主持人：你瞧，你走進(jìn)一家餐館，會看到他們擺出的一盤當(dāng)日特色菜吧？而在日本，餐館通常會展示自己菜單上的所有菜式?？瓷先ミ€很不錯，仿佛隨時可以享用——只可惜不能真吃，因為這些“食物”都是塑料制品。原來，所有這些假壽司、假拉面，以及假咖喱雞扒飯都來自同一個地方——位于東京的合羽橋道具街。

史蒂夫·多林斯基（美食作家）：合羽橋是當(dāng)?shù)匾粋€家庭用品及廚房用具集散地。你會看見許多廚師到那里給自己的餐館添置用品，你還會看到一些像這樣的食品模型店，專門制作這些食物模型。差不多是……只要是你在這個世界上能吃到的東西，在東京這里就都能被復(fù)制出來。

主持人：許多日本餐館都會用模型道具展示他們的菜式。那么說，如果我是個餐館老板，我要怎么做呢？帶著我餐館的菜單來到合羽橋道具街，在這些小工廠里找一家，它就能幫我把食物模型做出來嗎？

史蒂夫：沒錯。我所去的模型店名叫“舞鶴”，這家店自1948年開始營業(yè)。他們其實還希望餐館老板和廚師們能夠帶上食物一起來。他們說，有時顧客還會將食物郵寄送過來。這里的服務(wù)對象并不僅僅是日本餐館，這些模型適用于全世界的餐館。假如你去過美國的某個亞洲餐館，又或者去過哪里的唐人街，你在櫥窗里看到的那些塑料食品模型很有可能就來自合羽橋道具街——就在東京外圍的一些工廠里生產(chǎn)出來的。我今天早些時候參觀的舞鶴就是這樣的店。

主持人：像舞鶴這樣的地方，他們的作坊是怎樣的？是更像一個廚房呢，還是更像一個藝術(shù)工作室呢？

史蒂夫：沒錯，確實有點藝術(shù)工作室范兒。人們弓著身子坐在木桌旁邊，戴著面罩，一絲不茍地工作。有人在上色，有人在弄造型，還有人將模具從爐子里拿出來。我們看見一些婦女用噴槍給龍蝦和檸檬上色，給神戶牛肉上的脂肪紋又或是金槍魚肉進(jìn)行手工著色，這都是些非常精細(xì)的活計。這里的人有些念過藝校，也有些人很善于觀察食物。

主持人：這一切是怎么發(fā)展起來的呢？我的意思是，這一切是怎么來的？

史蒂夫：二戰(zhàn)以后，許多西方人開始到日本來，當(dāng)時的情況有點像是一種雙向交流。他們對當(dāng)?shù)厥澄镆桓[不通，比如蕎麥面、烏冬面，以及這里的種種傳統(tǒng)食物;而日本人也不懂什么是漢堡包，什么是熱狗。于是你必須找個辦法對這些食物加以說明，最有用的做法就是制作食物的大致模型了。于是在二戰(zhàn)以后，這一帶的食物模型制作便發(fā)展起來了。

主持人：實在是太不可思議了。這是一個很簡單的解決辦法，你瞧，只要指著一件東西就能消除由于語言與文化差異引起的誤會。

史蒂夫：正是這樣。我問他們：“你們有預(yù)先做好的套件嗎，還是人們更喜歡定制產(chǎn)品？”他們便帶我去參觀一個堆滿東西的房間，我是說，從地板一直堆到天花板，全都是箱子，里面有各種各樣的組件，你完全可以自行搭配。你想要香菇片還是香菇丁呢？要來點金針菇嗎？想要煮熟的大蝦嗎？你想要不同做法的雞蛋嗎？我是說，你完全可以將自己想要的東西都放在一個盤子里，無論餐館想要什么食物，他們都會找專人研究圖片，然后重現(xiàn)一模一樣的菜式模型。

主持人：考慮到這個手藝水平之高，真刺身和假刺身，哪個價格更貴呢？

史蒂夫：這些模型可貴呢。我看到一件小小的握壽司模型——也就是飯團(tuán)上面有一片魚肉那種，一件就能賣8到14美元。

主持人：你見到最惟妙惟肖的食物模型是什么，有讓你差點忍不住要一口咬下去的模型嗎？

史蒂夫：那絕對是拉面了。我是個超級拉面迷，在東京的時候簡直像在開拉面狂歡派對一樣?？催@一片片的叉燒，還有炸魚餅，面條泡在熱氣騰騰的湯里——看起來實在太逼真了。這里的人們太不可思議了，他們能……他們僅憑著上色技巧與豐富的想象力就可以制作出以假亂真的復(fù)制品。