Eat, drink your selfie

The edible selfie trend takes customisation to another level. If we trace our steps back in time, we will see how the printable selfie first caught our fascination with our faces plastered on tees, mugs, posters, etc. From there, it moved on to make its presence felt in the edible selfie market that’s growing from strength to strength with each passing year across the globe. From cakes to cupcakes, marshmallows to pizzas, lattes to macarons, the world is witnessing the edible selfie experience, leaving us hungry for more.

Westside story

Unlike most other food trends, the edible selfie fad has taken a while to catch on both in the West and even here. It started off with trickles of innovation. That has now grown leaps and bounds and we can see selfies on pancakes, cappuccinos, marshmallows, lattes, cupcakes and cookies, and the world is still not done with it. Back home it has taken a while to reach our shores, but is clearly catching on, and here’s why.

Pictures have replaced words

If Ronan Keating had to sing Words today. He would have to replace the lines, “It’s only words and words are all I have to take your heart away... to It’s only pictures and pictures are all I have to take your heart away.” That’s the new lingua franca. And it’s obvious from the mugs you will see on edible food and drinks. Toshin Shetty, patissier and founder at Toshin tells us why. He says, “In the old days, people used notes to express themselves. Today, words have made way for pictures. That’s how people have started communicating. Hence, more and more clients now request for a portraits, sketches or replicas of an item to be printed to express their affection and warmth.

The growing popularity of selfies among millennials and technological advancements have only made this process simpler.” And while the world is posing with mugs on M&M’s and pizzas, in Mumbai we are now waking up to our mugs on coffee.

Drinkable selfies

Back in January, #Selfieccino made a splash in Mumbai with the introduction of the option of having your portrait on coffees. It was the first time coffee lovers here got a chance to literally drink their face. Jesal Desai, founder of #Selfieccino, attributes the popularity of the trend to a need to have a new experience. He says, “Edible selfies are about adding a personal touch. Seeing your selfie on a cup of coffee is an exciting experience and I guess it has a novelty value that draws people to it.” 

Currently, at #Selfieccino, you can get your mug printed on a freshly brewed coffee and even on thick shakes. 
All you need to do is send your selfie to the software and in a couple of minutes, you get a perfectly brewed cup of coffee or a shake with your face on it.

The future is coloured selfies

Roopanshi Bhatt, co-owner at Tea Villa Cafe, who is also printing selfies on cappuccinos adds, “As far as edible selfies go, we are still taking baby steps in that direction. So far most people have only experimented, if at all, with printing pictures on cakes. We decided to add to this experience by taking people’s love for coffee and taking selfies to create a cuppa that they can both pose with and also sip on.”

Bhatt says, “The process is computerised, and is done by a machine, which prints your face on top of the cappuccino foam. It creates an element of excitement and happiness and is something new, which people want to try out. It will evolve with time with more colours. It’s hard to say what the future holds. Who knows, we may see our mugshots on pizzas soon, I would not be surprised if that’s already on its way.”

Did you know?

Your mug on a slab

While we are still warming up to the idea of our mugshots on cappuccinos, in New South Wales Australia things have got more up, close and personal. The Willy Wonka-style dessert bar is in the news for giving patrons a chance to get their selfies or that of their four-legged pals printed on a bar of chocolate. Called face bark, all people need is a selection of photographs for printing on slabs of white chocolate.