Rasika:

Carving his way

Ruwini JAYAWARDANA

Creative art is his fascination. Hand him a knife along with a fruit or vegetable and he turns it into an artistic masterpiece. Pumpkins, watermelons, turnips, pineapples, radishes, yams, huge ice block, mounds of butter or chocolate, you name it. His nimble finger will do the job and the final product will take your breath away.

Armed with talent and a flair for carving, it is no wonder that M V Rasika Ruwan walked away with the silver medal at the Seventh Hotel Asia 2011 Exhibition and International Culinary Challenge held in Male, Maldives, recently.

He had carved a pumpkin into five faces, each merging into one another.

“My concept is that though we see the world in different facets as individuals, we come to one conclusion and see it from that point of view as a single being no matter what kind of mask or personality we adorn in a situation,” said Rasika who hails from a family of wood carvers in the Benthara region. This area is famous for traditional mask carving.

“The skill runs in the family. Though all of us did not take to mask carving, we made use of our innate talent in the field that we choose to excel. My brother too is engaged in decorative carving at a hotel in Sri Lanka,” he said.

Rasika had been employed at the the Hilton Maldives Irufushi Resort & Spa hotel for two and a half years and is their main carving chef. He says that it generally takes him around two hours to turn a fruit, vegetable, block of ice or lump of butter or chocolate into a work of art.

“We had only two hours for the competition and I managed to do a pumpkin carving as well as a picture of a woman out of a yam. Carving is a daily activity for me. I make an ice carving and vegetable carvings for the hotel’s daily buffets. If there is a special function like a barbecue or wedding, then the demand increases. Sometimes we have to carve up to 17 creations per day. They add elegance to the indoor décor,” he said adding that you can make a carving out of any kind of fruit or vegetable provided that it is stiff.

“It should be ripe enough to bring out the colours properly. Otherwise we use food colours to enhance the shades in the carvings we do for the hotel. We have to be especially careful while handling ice carvings. One misjudged stroke and the whole creation would be smashed to smithereens. You can normally keep a vegetable carving for three days in a refrigerator. We target to preserve an ice carving for three hours. Butter carvings are easier to handle because we can use wires and regiform in the creation. Chocolate carvings are hard to perfect,” the Sri Lankan born youth explained.

The art of carving foods is an Eastern custom that has been adopted by creative food preparers around the world. In Thailand and Japan food carving is considered part of the presentation of the meal.

The stunning designs that can be created makes the food the centre of attention when you serve your guests. No need to worry about what else is on the table!

Speaking to the Daily News about how he honed his talent as a carver Rasika said that experience and practice are important to perfect the art. He had won accolades in carving competitions in Sri Lanka and Dubai from 2004 and his goal is to take part in the World Culinary Olympics in Singapore.