The term “Vegetable Sculpting” conjures up all sorts of images but it turned out to be more of an artistic display. Chris Burford turned out to be a former chef who had worked in several top class hotel kitchens in London and around the world. He explained that most of the skills were used for garnishes to meals.
Chris showed how to turn tomatoes into roses and spring onions and radishes into flowers. The trick to keeping the vegetables fresh and getting them to open up was to keep them in a bowl of cold water first.
The pièce de résistance was a gondola made out of a whole melon and filled with various carved vegetables. We were all impressed with the skills demonstrated by Chris but left wondering if we would ever have the time to produce such exotic creations whilst cooking for a family at home!
