9 Incredible Food Sculptures

When it comes to artistic ingenuity, presenting a beautifully crafted plate of food is a source of pride for many chefs. And while chefs are certainly considered by many to be artists in their own right, there's edible evidence of true virtuosos, those who create food sculptures that take the concept of "food as art" to an even higher plane of culinary creativity.

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You may have seen some of the incredible food sculptures last year. Consider the buddha watermelon, the food dragon, a giant scale made of pumpkins, and a still life crafted with cheese! Then there's Canstruction, an organization dedicated to harnessing the talent of canned-food sculptors and aspiring artists to fight against world hunger.

Then, of course, there's chocolate sculpture: chocolate soldiers, a chocolate trumpeter — heck, there was even a model of the White House made out of white chocolate. The innovation behind some of these culinary compositions can be extreme, or at least, notable, for the patience that goes into the their painstaking detail.

From school-lunch scenes crafted from butter to cheese statues of leggy ladies, elaborate watermelon carvings to delicate egg art, prepare to be dazzled by 2011's nine featured innovative approaches to food artistry.