For Manami Sasaki, the making of toast is the time to slow down and be creative in the midst of these chaotic times. Every morning, she sits down and uses bread as her canvas to create quite unusual but incredible food art. Her “Stay Home” series, which she started during the quarantine period, features different themes, varying from famous artworks such as Ikko Tanaka’s “The 200th Anniversary Of Sharaku” to zen Japanese rock gardens.

“I work from home so I have more time in the morning. But since I have time, I’ve slacked off. I wanted to create a habit of waking up in the morning happily, so I turned the toast I usually eat into art. There are other people who do toast art, but I really value eating well. I pay attention to the ingredients. We don’t use any artificial colors, and we try to use the shapes and colors of the materials well. We also choose themes related to Japanese culture, design, and art. I want to tell people what I love about myself. I hope that anyone who is feeling anxious or sad due to Corona will feel a little better in the morning,” explains the artist. 

The artist takes inspiration from Japanese traditions so it’s natural that some of the artworks show traditional Japanese rock gardens, anime characters, Japanese paintings, and even Japanese dances. For her creations, she uses a variety of ingredients that mostly can be found in any Japanese kitchen—seaweed, tomatoes, sour cream, nuts, and fish. Well, except only the edible gold leaf. 

When asked how long it takes for her to make one creation, she said: “It depends on the theme of the day, but about 3 hours. The longest one took six hours. When I have a lot of work to do, I choose a theme that isn’t so hard to work on.” The artist explains that she starts her preparations the night before so she can go to the grocery store and shop for the ingredients. “I decide on a theme the night before. I also think about what ingredients I’d like to eat tomorrow and finally decide on a theme for the next day’s toast. After that, I go to the grocery store, where I incorporate new ingredients I’ve discovered, and go home to create. About 60% of the work is completed the night before. I get up in the morning, finish it, shoot it, and then eat it.”

When asked what she enjoys the most about the creative process, the artist says: “When the bread is baked. A moment where my creativity and my food mix. I love to see the toasted art being baked while smelling the goodness of the bread. And it makes me want to eat it fast.”

When Sasaki is not making her incredible toast art, she creates amazing watercolor illustrations, which you can find on the artist’s website and her Instagram. “I have been drawing since I was a child. I’ve taken realism for granted since I was in elementary school, so I was interested in accidental expression, so I painted watercolors and oil paintings. I went to college in Tokyo where I immersed myself in design and art. I now work as an artist while working for a design company. Bread art is more of a habit than artwork, and I work mainly with conceptual art.” It seems like her creativity has no boundaries! Who knows what she’ll prepare for us in the future?