Day of the Food Art Ninja

I'm Ricky.

I live in Bristol.

I work as an animator, which is lucky, because I love art.

I live for art, I even dream of art.

I draw. I paint.

I make things.

Nailed it! I hang out with my mates, Gavin, Rich, and Sarah.

SHE SCREAMS

Most importantly, I make ninja moves.

Some people call me the...

Today, I'll show you how to make a tasty-looking cushion.

There's cracking art with this mouthwatering mosaic.

And we've got good vibrations with art that sounds delicious.

Because today, it's...

It's a new day.

I'd better get my ninja on.

And my clothes.

It's a new day!

That doesn't usually happen.

Hey, Gav! What's cooking?

We are, mate. Check this out!

"Food Fest Bristol.

"We're looking for locals to enter their entrees in

"The Of Best Of Bristol Food Competition."

And the best part is, it's going to be judged by Nadiya Hussain!

Winner of The Great British Bake Off!

I know, right? She's awesome!

I really want to impress the judges!

That's a great idea. Now you're the one with the "mad food skills",

so you get practising, I've got art to make.

I'm going to make... the Art Ninja no-sew burger cushion!

So I've got a big piece of brown material here.

I'm just going to lay it out on my table...

..and tape it down.

I've made this little contraption here from a piece of card that will

help me draw perfect circles.

Basically using it like a compass.

I'm putting one pencil in the hole here to hold it still,

and another pencil through this hole.

And now I've made another hole here for my inner circle.

Go across now.

Now, this circle's going to be a bit bigger.

The inner circle again.

There we go, I'm going to cut this out.

But these two circles are the secret to the no-sewing burger.

There we go.

Now I'm going to cut slits into my circles from the outer rim

to the inner rim, but no further.

Moving on to my big circle,

and I want to make sure there's the same amount of tassels on this as

there are on the small one. There we go.

I'm going to lay the smaller circle on top of the bigger circle.

Now we're going to take the tassels and start tying them in knots.

And I'm doing double knots here to make sure it doesn't come apart.

I don't want to tie knots all the way around yet,

because I want to put the stuffing in first.

And before I do that, I'm going to turn it inside out.

Now I'm going to stuff it.

And I'm not using your normal stuffing,

I'm using some old carrier bags that I've been collecting.

You can use all sorts of things to stuff your cushion.

You could use old clothes, old bits of fabric.

Just anything nice and soft.

Now I'm going to tie up the rest of my tassels.

There we go.

Now I'm just going to push it out,

so it's nice and flat, like a burger.

That's looking pretty good! But now this burger is going to need a bun.

So I'm going to use my ninja skills.

There we go!

And these two buns are made exactly the same way as the burger patty.

I don't know about you, but I like a bit of garnish on my burgers.

So I've got myself a duster here,

and I want to create a kind of Swiss cheese look,

and I'm going to cut half circles into the fold

so that, when I open it up, it's a nice, round circle.

We're going to dot these all over the material.

There we go.

That's looking pretty cheesy.

And using some other material, I've made myself some healthy lettuce.

That's from an old towel and some wool.

Some tasty tomato from some old T-shirts.

And I'm going to put my lettuce underneath the burger patty...

..the cheese on top, and the tomato on top of that.

And I've got one last finishing touch for the top of my bun.

And that is some beads.

And I'm going to glue them on with fabric glue,

and they're going to look like sesame seeds.

Sesa-who? Sesa-me!

There you go, the Art Ninja no-sew burger cushion!

You could also make...

..a cushion, like this delicious cupcake!

Or even a tasty-looking piece of sushi.

Mm-mmm!

Gav, whatever you've made smells amazing!

-When do I get to try it?

-Right...

..now!

This is my special culinary creation.

-Toffee apple surprise.

-I wonder what the surprise is?

Gavin has made a delicious crunchy honey-crisp apple,

drizzled with a deep rich toffee jus,

dressed with delicate confectionery sprinkles.

He's also included his signature mad cooking skills surprise

on the inside.

Oh, Gavin! Baked beans?

-What were you thinking?

-What?

All the best chefs love adding a distinctive twist to their recipes.

Maybe you don't have a sophisticated palate!

Sophisticated...

Mate, you need to go back to the chopping board and come up with

something less mad. Rustle up a dessert or something.

Oh, everyone's a food critic.

I'll get some more ingredients.

Ricky, Ricky, Ricky!

It's the ninja apprentices!

I wonder what they've got on the menu?

Can you make art with a blanket?

-I'm afraid I've already covered that one.

-Oh...

Hey, it's Naomi from Marrying Mum And Dad!

Oh! Hello, Ricky!

That looks tasty.

Here's a challenge for you.

Can you make art using a doughnut?

I "doughnut" believe it!

Doughnut!

-But I really wanted a bite.

-Bye.

-Ricky, can you make art out of lasagne?

-That "pasta" be the one.

Yay!

So what are your names?

-Nate and Barney.

-Nice to meet you, guys, and where are you from?

We're from Cardiff!

Oh, great, just down the road!

Right, I'm just going to grab some bits, and I'll be right back.

Hey, guys, I've got myself some paper, some paint, some glue,

lasagne sheets, of course.

I'm going to start by painting my lasagne sheets.

-Cool.

-Start with a nice green...

I've put down some paper just to protect my kitchen top.

And I only need to paint one side of the pasta sheets.

I'm going to go yellow...

-Ooh!

-You guys like arts and crafts?

-I see some art behind you.

-We love painting!

-Have you ever painted food?

-Never painted food.

-Never painted food?

-No.

Remember, you can't eat it once you've painted it, obviously.

Well, hopefully I can inspire you

to do something with your lasagne sheets.

-Yeah, cool!

-Hmm, let's have a dark green now.

Is there anything you can teach me?

We will teach you a bit of Welsh.

All right then.

Mae gen i ffrind o'r enw Ricky.

-And what does that mean?

-I've got a friend called Ricky.

Oh! Is it me?

Yes!

-Do you guys have any hobbies?

-Rugby and kung fu.

Wow. How about you, Bernie?

-I play rugby and football.

-Very active guys.

Right, I've painted all my lasagne sheets, and they're pretty dry.

Now I need to call upon some of those kung fu ninja skills to help

me break them. Ready?

Three, two, one!

Whoa! Easy, guys, there's barely anything left!

I'm going to lay down my piece of paper.

The great thing about lasagne is you can snap it

into any size pieces you want. I'm using PVA glue.

It's perfect for this job.

-So what do you think the picture's going to be of?

-Uh...

I'll give you a clue, it's my favourite fruit.

-Bananas?

-You're bananas.

You'll see in the end.

These small bits of pasta are going to make a mosaic.

Do you guys know what a mosaic is?

I've learned about mosaics, in the Roman times!

Yeah, like the Romans.

So if you guys could make art out of any food, what would you use?

I would use two oranges and a banana.

A smiley face!

Nice, I like it.

I'm going to start with a background now.

And I'm going to use blue.

I really want it to stand out.

Nearly there.

I hope you're going to like it.

OK, guys. I've finished it, are you ready to see?

-Yes!

-Yes!

-What do you think?

Yay!

-What would you score it out of ten?

-Ten!

-Ten!

-Two tens!

-Oh, yes!

I'm so happy with that, I'm going to give it a frame.

-Thanks for your suggestion! Bye-bye!

-Bye, Ricky!

PHONE RINGS

-Hi, Mum!

-Hi, Ricky!

-It's your mum!

-Obviously.

Have you heard about Food Fest Bristol?

Are you and Gav entering?

I've always thought he was sweet.

Here's what's coming up on your delicious show.

Gorgeous portraits made from chocolate.

"Squeezy" does it with this juice bottle made from jelly.

And get "bready" for a slice of this animation.

Anyway, Ricky, I better go, I think Dad's burning the cheese on toast!

Or is that just his socks on the radiator again?

-Bye!

-Bye.

Well, that was food for thought.

A thought I could seriously do without.

It's the Grand Master!

Um... Whoa!

I'm OK, man!

-Greetings, dude!

-Hey, Grand Master.

Lesson 99 to enlightenment,

receptacle of refreshing beverage that wobbles when shaken!

Jelly juice bottle.

Let's do it!

Get some jelly and a jug of water.

Break the jelly into pieces.

Ask a grown-up to help microwave it, man.

Yeah, my lunch!

-Can I have some, dude?

-No, dude!

DING!

Oh...

Give it a mix!

Grab an empty bottle and take the label off.

Squeeze it and cut a small hole!

Put it on a towel to stop it rolling around.

Carefully pour the jelly into the bottle.

Then put it in the fridge!

Cool!

Check the jelly's set, man!

Then carefully cut the plastic bottle off!

Wrap a clean label around the jelly bottle...

..and put the lid on the top!

Far out!

Lesson number 99 complete!

I am most enlightened.

Hum... Hum...

Hi, Ricky, have you seen this?

I might enter my entree.

Seen it, and we're cooking up a storm. Well, Gav is.

Is that Sarah? Tell her she can't come in!

-What's he making?

-Nothing!

Oi, don't try and pinch any of our ideas!

-It's ready!

-Coming!

And for dessert...

Ta-da!

Profiteroles, my favourite!

Gavin, is that a Brussels sprout?

I said to rustle up a dessert, not "Brussel" up a dessert!

At least the pastry has chocolate sauce on it.

Not so much chocolate sauce as egg and hoisin sauce reduction.

With mad food like this,

we're going to be laughing stocks at Food Fest Bristol!

SHE BREAKS WIND

It's going to be a stinker!

I think this is a safe distance.

That did not smell good and Gav's profiteroles...

Ugh! I've still got a horrible taste in my mouth.

I know what will do the trick, some chocolate.

Mmm.

I do love chocolate.

Hola, Ricky!

Who are you, and what are you doing on my chocolate bar?

I am Brazilian artist Vik Muniz.

I have often used chocolate syrup to make paintings.

Here's one of my works now.

Some people compare my use of wet, shiny chocolate syrup

to the splatter painting of artist Jackson Pollock.

-Sweet.

-Not all of my work is edible, though.

I've also used diamonds, thread, and rubbish.

Rubbish? Now it definitely sounds like Gav's food.

But if you don't mind, I've got art to make.

Yes, I'd better be "Cocoa-ing".

Ciao.

Ciao, indeed!

Because I'm going to be able to chow down on this art,

because Vik's inspired me to make a chocolate portrait.

So I've got a printout of the ninja here.

And I'm going to lay a sheet of acetate over the top of it.

And I've got a bar of dark chocolate and a sandwich bag,

and I'm just going to break it up and put it on the inside.

Don't worry, my hands are nice and clean.

The smaller you break it up, the better.

Now to put the chocolate inside the bag...

Zip it up like that. Now I've got a bowl of warm water.

This is in hot water, because hot water could melt my plastic bag,

and it will burn the chocolate

and make it not so good at making art with.

I'm also going to pop in there some milk chocolate...

..and some white chocolate.

Now your chocolate may take a while to melt,

but I've got ninja chocolate.

Now I'm going to start with the dark chocolate,

and I'm going to cut a little slit into the bag.

And now I'm going to start piping the chocolate onto my acetate,

tracing the design underneath.

As the ninja is the darkest colour,

I'm using dark chocolate to colour him in.

I'm trying to do this as neat as I can,

so my design has a crisp outline.

All right. Now I'm going to move on to milk chocolate...

to do the red stripes.

So again, I'm going to cut a little slit into the bag.

And I can just go straight over the top

of where I've done the ninja's arms and feet.

If it starts to become hard to pipe,

because there's lumps in the chocolate,

it means it's started to set,

so you have to pop it back in the warm water to melt it again.

I'm drawing the outlines first, and then filling in the colours.

Now I'm going to move on to some white chocolate

for the background and the details of the ninja.

I'm covering all the way across the picture,

because this will seal the colours together.

Now I still need to be a little bit careful here so as not to disturb

the other chocolate colours.

There you go, I've finished my white chocolate.

And to set, it needs to be cool.

Right, I was so cool, that my picture has set.

You can use a fridge.

Now I'm going to carefully turn it over...

Get rid of my printout now.

There we go. Oh, and the acetate's come away, so I can peel that off.

And look at that!

There you go, my chocolate portrait inspired by Vik Muniz!

So good, I think I'll give it a taste!

Mmm!

Here's a quick art tip of how to draw a cake using a spiral.

So I'm going to start with a spiral.

Big one to begin with, working it up into smaller ones.

And this is just a rough guide for the sizes of the tiers of my cake.

Now I'm going to move on to some pen,

and I'm going to add a few cherries,

and that's because they're in the foreground.

Now I'm going to add the candles,

and they are just very thin rectangles...

..with a few stripes.

The wick at the top, and the flames are like wiggly tears.

Now I'm going to do the structure of the cake.

Obviously not drawing any lines that are behind my cherries

or any of my foreground elements.

And the icing, which is basically a wobbly line on each tier,

like it's dribbled over the sides.

A couple of dots to show that it's sponge...

And this texture just separates the icing from the rest of the cake.

And finally, a plate.

There we go, there's a quick art tip of how to draw a cake...

..using a spiral.

Mmm!

Mm-mmm!

-Peace offering.

-And what's the ingredients, eh?

Anchovies and custard?

Or maybe there's some minced beef hidden in there somewhere!

No, mate, just a normal cake.

Mmm. That's actually delicious.

Honestly, mate, I just wanted to say sorry.

Maybe I don't have mad food skills after all.

All right.

-Gavin!

-I'm sorry!

Gavin moves fast.

A bit like this moving picture.

That's because it's animated.

Hmm. I'm going to make some toast.

Whoa! It's a spinning emoji face!

Don't worry, Loz, it's just an animation.

And to make this animation, you'll need a loaf of bread,

a skewer or a lolly stick, a toaster,

and a tablet with animation app installed.

And you can put it together in just three ninja moves!

Ninja move number one.

Grab your loaf and some skewers, or an old lolly stick,

and draw your first frame into a slice.

I'm pushing the skewer into the bread to leave a nice impression.

A quick tip here,

if you need to keep drawing circles, just use a glass.

Ninja move number two,

put your first slice into the toaster.

Ask an adult to help you with this.

Careful when you're getting your toast out, it might be hot.

Now you do the same process on the rest of the loaf,

but make sure you keep all your slices in the right order,

because you have to animate them next!

Finally, ninja move number three.

It's time to start shooting.

So set up your animation app,

and shoot each frame of your toast popping out of the toaster.

Safety first, make sure your toaster is unplugged.

Now I'm doing a little bit of extra ninja skills here,

and I'm going to be doing some rigging,

which will hold the bread magically in the air,

and I'm going to paint it out later.

OK, we've shot all of our frames.

I think it's time to take a look at our mini masterpiece!

-Oh!

-What do you think, Loz?

I think it's amazing!

Huh?

-You OK, Ricks?

-Yeah, mate.

There's no point crying over spilt milk or cake mix.

But time's running out for Food Fest Bristol.

What are we going to make? We seriously need to think.

DING!

Well, a nice sandwich always helps me pontificate.

Gav, you're a genius!

We'll make a multi-seeded ninja bread!

Great! Three, two, one!

-BOTH:

-Bake!

Oh, Gav, a baking montage!

I "loaf" that!

That's "crust" what I "kneaded"!

Well, now our bread's cooled down,

we better get it along to the Food Fest!

Yeah, we "doughnut" want to be late!

Let's quit it with the hot cross "puns".

-This looks like the place!

-Can't wait to meet Nadiya!

What, where's Nadiya?

She probably saw your soggy bottom.

Where's everybody else, more like?

I thought the Food Fest would be way more popular.

Well, they're probably coming soon.

Yeah, pop your loaves down here, nice and close to the stage.

Testing, testing, one, two.

On your marks, get set, bake!

Nice one, Gav! How about giving us a few scales?

Oh, OK... Let me remember.

# Do, re, mi...

Ah, "dough"! Like baking!

OK, OK, OK, I've got this, I've got this...

La!

RUMBLING

Wow! Gav, that gives me an idea!

It's time to get our ninja on!

Art Ninja! Use your loaf, strike a pose.

-Art Ninja!

-Yeah, that's a real show stopper!

Gav, I've found something interesting.

These tables...

..are on speakers!

It must be that, when the frequency's just right,

the vibrations make things move.

Watch these chocolates.

Sweet!

Yes, they've got cake decorations!

There's millions of them!

Well, hundreds and thousands!

OK, Gav, hit me with some feedback!

Um, you're doing a great job.

No, hit it!

Shame they keep bouncing off everywhere, Ricks.

-They don't work so well.

-We've just got to find the right topping.

Argh!

Gav, we're making loads of mess!

Yeah, but we're making rock and roll, baby!

-Let's try some poppy seeds.

-Sounds good.

-Let's rock!

-And roll!

Gav, you can see the patterns changing!

One, two, three, four!

Wah-hoo!

CHURCH BELLS CHIME

Rock and roll! Rock and roll!

Ricky, I thought this was the Food Fest?

Uh-oh! Come on, Gav, wrong marquee!

-Let's roll!

-Oi, you two!

Food Fest Bristol nearly descended into a food fight.

We did get to make art worthy of a marquee, though.

But we didn't get to meet Nadiya. That's a real shame.

MOBILE PHONE RINGS

Oh, hi, is that Gavin?

It's Nadiya, the judge from Food Fest Bristol.

Oh... Hi, Nadiya!

Gavin's not here at the moment. I'm in bed.

Can you tell him that his best friend Sarah got me his special

profiteroles, and I don't know what the secret ingredient is,

but they were delicious, and they've won first prize at the Food Fest?

Anyway, I've got to go...

Nice pyjamas, by the way.

Gav's sprout profiteroles won?

Ahh!

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