When Desire Hangs in Midair: KAKUKOW’s Surreal Take on Beef Noodles
Taiwanese food model artisan Chih-Chung Kuo — founder of KAKUKOW — has won the Platinum Prize in Contemporary Sculpture at the Future Art & Design Award UK 2025 Summer Season for his evocative work Floating Appetite: Contemporary Gaze of Beef Noodles. At first glance, it looks like a beautifully plated bowl of noodles mid-air—glossy broth, tender beef, noodles pulled upward by hovering chopsticks. But look closer, and you’ll realize: this is not food, but an illusion. The dish is suspended in time, never to be eaten. And that’s precisely the point.
“The moment before the first bite is full of anticipation and desire,” says Kuo, who has over 28 years of experience crafting hyper-realistic food models. Trained in both fine art and traditional Japanese food replica techniques, Kuo blends craftsmanship with contemporary narrative to explore how food shapes cultural identity. Floating Appetite reimagines the humble beef noodle soup—a Taiwanese icon—as a sculptural metaphor. The illusion of gravity-defying noodles required advanced molding, resin work, and visual rhythm. Each strand is intentional. Each element tells a story.
The audience’s reaction? A mix of delight, disbelief, and reflection.
“People are amazed by the realism, but what stays with them is the emotional contradiction,” says Kuo. “It’s appetizing but unreachable. It’s nostalgic, but unfamiliar. It reminds us that food is more than nourishment—it’s memory, ritual, and identity.” Participating in the Future Art & Design Award UK, Kuo says, offered a rare opportunity to present food modeling not just as a craft, but as conceptual contemporary art. “Winning the Platinum Prize is a huge affirmation—it proves that even everyday traditions can be reframed as meaningful artistic statements.”
Full Interview
1. Could you let us know a bit more about yourself and what inspired you to pursue a career in creative / art / design?
I am Chih-Chung KUO, Taiwan’s first recognized food model artisan with over 28 years of experience in the field. Originally trained in fine arts and design, I was captivated early on by the intersection of craftsmanship and everyday culture—particularly food. My journey began when I apprenticed under a Japanese master of hyper-realistic food replica making. That experience not only deepened my appreciation for traditional techniques but also inspired me to reinterpret this commercial craft as a form of contemporary visual expression rooted in Taiwan’s culinary heritage.
2. What was the initial inspiration behind this project? Was there a specific idea, moment, or question that sparked its development?
“Floating Appetite” was born from a desire to explore how the ordinary act of eating—especially with a culturally iconic dish like Taiwanese beef noodles—could be elevated into a visual metaphor for desire, memory, and identity. The moment of suspended noodles, captured mid-air, was inspired by the fleeting pleasure of anticipation before the first bite. It reflects both the intensity of human craving and the poetic stillness often found in food rituals. This work is also a homage to how food shapes our cultural imagination.
3. What was the most exciting or challenging part of creating the work?
The greatest challenge was also the most exciting: defying gravity in a hyper-realistic way. Achieving the illusion of suspended noodles and floating ingredients required not only advanced mold-making and resin techniques but also a deep understanding of physics, weight distribution, and visual rhythm. Every strand had to look natural yet intentional. Capturing that tension between stillness and movement was technically demanding but immensely rewarding.
4. How have viewers responded to the tension between visual pleasure and physical inaccessibility in this work?
Audiences are often caught between wonder and disbelief. At first glance, they are drawn in by the appetizing realism—the glistening beef, the rich broth, the glossy noodles. But upon closer inspection, the impossibility of the scene—chopsticks suspended mid-air, noodles frozen mid-pull—triggers a sense of surreal curiosity. This tension invites viewers to reflect not just on food as sustenance, but as a symbol of desire, nostalgia, and the performative act of eating. Many describe the experience as both delightful and strangely emotional.
5. How was your experience taking part in the Future Art & Design Award UK?
It was truly an honor to participate and be recognized by such an esteemed international platform. The Future Art & Design Awards provided a rare opportunity to share my work beyond the commercial or regional context and engage with a global dialogue on what contemporary sculpture can be. Winning the Platinum Prize affirmed that even a traditionally utilitarian craft like food modeling can be reimagined as conceptual art. I’m deeply grateful for this experience and inspired to keep pushing the boundaries of cultural storytelling through food.
Follow the artist:
https://www.facebook.com/kakukow.foodsample
