The carrot lobster, the bread room slippers and the dog that went bananas

The Cinnamon Grand team was thrilled to host a hospitality tent at the 2012 Kala Pola, yearly art market and for fun, framed vegetables and fruit pictures to pose the question, “can food be art?”

The two model food mannequins at the entrance to the Cinnamon Grand Café stole the show with their retro lettuce bodice and groovy spring onion hairstyles, which became the central spot to stop and take arty photographs.

Created by Cinnamon Grand's talented Chef duo Weeraman and Keerithi, the Food Art Cafe by the hotel, certainly proved that, food can certainly blend with art!

Rohan Karr, the General Manager of the city’s leading five star hospitality trendsetter Cinnamon Grand, picked the avant-garde Dogs Go Bananas as the food art piece for his bathroom and the Carrot Lobsters he felt would look rather cool in the hotel’s famed seafood, Lagoon restaurant.

According to Karr food art reflects the creativity of the Cinnamon Grand team. “The gallery with its Salad Ducks and Cabbage Fish framed as the backdrop of the festival restaurant, reaches out to people in an inspiring way, that makes you think of the Cinnamon Grand as so much more than just a place to eat and sleep.”

" We were delighted that this opportunity was given to us by John Keells. We look forward to ensuring that food meets art, at every Kala Pola," he said.

At the first Kala Pola 19 years ago there were only 38 artists and it was only in the 2nd year that John Keells Holdings (JKH) started to sponsor the event, which has now grown to some 300 artisans, sculptors and painters from all around the country.

The event, which was initially created by the George Keyt Foundation to provide opportunities for young artists all over the island, is now fast becoming one of the biggest outdoor street art markets in the world.

The Chief Guest at the opening of the 2012 Kala Pola, His Excellency John Rankin, the Head of the British High Commission, who stopped off for refreshments  at the Cinnamon Grand hospitality tent, with JKH Deputy Chairman Ajit Gunewardene,  was most amused by the food art, in particular the Cauliflower Sheep, which he said reminded him of his homeland, Scotland.

He also said that he would happily hang such a piece on his kitchen wall.

One cheeky art buyer was so taken up by the sheep that, he offered to buy them, but Chef Weeraman although thrilled by the offer, had to sadly decline it, because “food art only lasts a day or two, so we cannot sell it. Only enjoy it as part of the delicious line up of goodies that were consumed in this exciting gallery of food that left a smile on everyone’s face.”

  Although this year’s Kala Pola is over, you can still enjoy a weekly sprinkling of student arts every Sunday outside Colombo’s National Gallery.