Photo-artist Tanico

Photo-artist Tanico can create breathtakingly beautiful montages of cityscapes and nature, creatively accentuated with text. In recent months, however, his food-related work seems to be getting a lot of attention. Whether it's an act of rebellion against parents who scolded him for playing with food as a child, or simply the natural result of his own creative journey as a photo-artist, but Tanico just loves to create playful photographic compositions with food, often enhanced with both visual and textual puns.

For example, consider this one, which he introduces with the text "A small touch to make dishes tastier" (the irony obviously being "small touch"):

The embedded text says: "Cuisine: Frozen pasta, grated cheese"

Or this one, which he introduces with the text: "Five Kenshi Yonezus," in reference to the popular Japanese singer-songwriter and musician Kenshi Yonezu who has been named Best Male Artist in the Space Shower Awards for the last four years:

Kenshi Yonezu fans will quickly recognize song titles "Peace Sign," "Donut Hole," "Lemon" and "Paprika," while the fifth, "Haiiro to Ao" (gray and blue) is hidden in the color scheme.

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Reverse Rice Proportions

Now, his most popular Tweet—with over 133,000 likes and 29,000 retweets at the time of writing—is a playful composition of four familiar Japanese dishes featuring rice as a key ingredient. Entitled 逆ごはん or "Reverse Meals," each one of these familiar dishes has one thing amiss: As the title suggests, the proportions of the elements in the dishes have been reversed. Apparently, Tanico ate every single one, so as not to waste any food.

Gohandesuyo and rice

One of Japan's most popular condiments and rice toppings, Momoya's Gohandesuyo! ごはんですよ！ made from nori (laver) seaweed, seasoned with soy sauce and sugar, is sold in nearly every convenience store and supermarket in Japan, not to mention most Japanese food stores and many Asian supermarkets outside of Japan. The usual way it's enjoyed is just a dollop placed on top of a steaming bowl of rice. But here, the proportions have switched, with the rice looking like a topping on a bed of Gohandesuyo.

Curry and pickles

Typically, with Japanese curried rice, you'll find a condiment on the side called Fukujinzuke, pickles mostly made from daikon radish but also other vegetables like cucumber, eggplant and lotus root, and often dyed red. Well, in this case, it seems that the Fukujinzuke pickles and rice have switched places, with the rice occupying the side position where the condiment usually goes and the pickles featured in the spotlight opposite the curry on the plate!

Eggs cloudy side up

This one's not too hard to figure out once you realize what's going on. Take your typical eggs sunny side up and imagine the eggs and whites reversed. Tanico made a "meringue" out of the egg whites to keep them firmly in place on the plate.

Low-carb tuna zinger

And perhaps the most visually arresting and preposterous of the four is this pair of tuna sushi with the rice and wasabi proportions reversed. Great for a low-carb diet but your sinuses, eyes and maybe even your lungs are going to go through quite an adventure. Did Tonico say he ate them ALL? Wow...

Later, Tanico sheepishly admitted to his followers that he cheated just a bit:

"Between you and me, for the Gohandesuyo and the Fukujinzuke, I just put a thin layer on top of rice! The wasabi I only put on the sides (of the tuna) but I think I showed my strength!"

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If you'd like to see more of Tanico's work, you can follow him on Twitter or Instagram.