Fake food samples. You often find them in restaurants and other eateries in Japan. Some are so well made down to the last detail that you would believe that they were real.

You sometimes see them being made on TV, but there must be some of you out there who thought, "I could do better than that!"

Well, there's actually a make-it-yourself fake food sample set being sold.

There is a great variety to choose from, from famous pasta dishes hanging off a fork, to summer foods such as shaved ice and chilled noodles.

How you arrange the various ingredients is supposedly a test of your aesthetic sense and love for food.

Food samples originated from Japan

Did you know that fake food samples were actually invented in Japan?

It is not recorded who first began to make them or where. But it is a practice that is said to have come into existence in the 1920s.

At first, wax was used but it could not stand up to heat and the samples melted in their showcases. That is why resin has been used since the 1980s and this change has led to a great increase in durability.