Carving a Career

There are many mediums which an artist may choose to express themselves. While some choose to use paint, others may choose food; of those who choose food some decide to carve fruit and vegetables into beautiful art. This paper will explore how a carver turns their art into a career. A brief description of the history of vegetable carving, as well as interviews with carving professionals will show how a carver may make a living with their art and the meaning behind what they are doing.

According to Master Carver Pam Maneeratana “The techniques (of fruit and vegetable carving) were held close by those who became experts, and were passed on to those few who had shown the love for this form of art carving,…In the past, no books were written to teach this type of carving” (Fruitcarving.com). What this means is, there is very little information which can be simply read in a book or found online. In order to obtain information on this type of art one must go to the few people considered masters. James Parker of Garnishing by Xiang Wang as saying “At the time of the Tang Dynasty (AD 618-906) and the Sung Dynasty (AD 960-1279) the garnishing of food was already widespread in China” (Veggyart.com). The Chinese have been practicing this art for over 1000 years. Carvings have become an integral point to garnish national dishes to enhance the cuisine’s status. However the Chinese style of carving is seldom seen in western society; moreover there is little to no information on it (including pictures) which can be found online. It would appear the Chinese have stuck to their beliefs of teaching the art to only those who are the most worthy. The more common carving style seen today is the Thai style. Maneeratana states, “Kae-sa-luk (fruit and veggy carving) began in Thailand in 1346. The story of it’s beginning was passed down through the generations, especially in the Royal Palace” (Fruitcarving.com). The two styles differ, in that the Chinese typically carve idols representative of their heritage such as religious figures; whereas the Thai tend to carve primarily flowers. What all of this shows is that the art form itself is cherished and respected by many people all over the world, and I has a deeper meaning than simply making food look pretty.

In an interview with Tomi Carey she describes how she went to school in Thailand where she learned, and later taught carving. For her, it was the highlight of her teaching career and a huge money maker. However, her career unlike Maneeratana’s took a different route. Most of the people who teach this craft take years to learn and hone their skill; and do not stop teaching until they basically can not hold a knife.
While Maneeratana takes on a few select students even in old age and has yet to write a book on the carving, Carey’s path led her to become a cookbook author and self taught painter. In the interview Carey emphasized to me that carving is more than making the food look pretty. She sent me a picture of an excerpt from a Thai carving book which describes how to the Thai people, they make the food look beautiful because the food makes us look beautiful by eating it. Carey has taken her skill and education as a carver and changed her medium to paint over the years. She no longer carves fruit and vegetables nor does she teach.

Carey and Maneeratana both achieved their goals through determination, training in a Thailand, and becoming recognized as master carvers, later teaching the craft. A modern day professional by the name of David Leathers however has taken more of a non-traditional route. To learn the art, Leathers attended school in Switzerland and has since become a popular carver. After school Leather’s explains in an interview that he started his career working in different resorts and practicing. He later released his first DVD on how to carve fruit, in an effort to help those who could not figure it out from the pictures in books. He also states “You will find out soon that your target customers are not chefs, they are women. I can go to a food expo and sell my products, but go to a women expo and sell 10 times more product.” What this shows is that even in modern day the people who are willing and able to learn the art are primarily women. This observation is supported by Maneeratana stating that it is “an art heritage of Thailand and should be taught to all Thai ladies” (Veggyart.com). The target of education of fruit carving both past and present appears to keep true to it’s original audience.

The history of fruit and vegetable carving goes back many years and is comprised of a select few masters in the culinary world. It has ties to ancient China and is considered a national art form in Thailand. Originally the art was taught to Thai women and for the Chinese only the select few who demonstrated they were worthy enough to learn it. With this mentality carvers in the past would travel to Thailand for training and later teach the art to make a living. With the invention of the internet, a new way to teach is now available. David Leathers got noticed online whereas artists such as Maneeratana and Carey had to get educated in Thailand before being able to teach it in the US. While the methods of making a living from this art are constantly changing with the times, much like it’s rise to popularity, the core aspects of it are for the most part, static. There is no set way to make a career from carving, it is up to the carver to market themselves and carve their own path.