Paint with Food

Rooted in the ideas of play and imagination, Paint With Food brought together people to express their creativity, and depict food in interesting and unusual ways. Participants, especially children, were delighted to use a range of art supplies, from watercolours and fabric paints to food pigments and dry waste. 

Some of the prompts given during the activity were to create a personified character sketch of a desi fruit or vegetable, and to think from its point of view. In doing so, participants were thinking more consciously about the fruit or vegetable’s journey, its unique features, and its life cycle.

Oishika Roy, an assistant editor at The Locavore, was in charge of Paint with Food. When children refused to give us their paintings at the end of the activity—only so they could take it home—it made Oishika happy. After all, this had meant that they were proud of it. She shared, “There was a girl who was very shy at the start. But eventually, she came back to paint with food four out of nine days. She even brought her friends with her!”