Eventually, a bowl of steaming noodles will go soggy, the lettuce in a salad will go limp and turn brown and a piece of sushi will dry up.
At Maizuru Co., however, all the food -- from a slice of banana to a platter of steak and French fries -- sits on the shelves, heedless of the passage of time. Their next stop is the show window of restaurants where they will be displayed in all their glossy freshness for years to come.
Food sample manufacturing, which began around the 1930s by innovators who were reportedly inspired by anatomical models of the human body used for medical studies, is a craft unique to Japan. Although upscale restaurants shun the practice, displaying sample food is still popular in the food industry.