Funky Food Art

Four-year-old Oscar was a grouch about finishing his lunch, so his dad Mark Northeast took sandwiches into his own hands.

Cartoon characters, a crocodile (complete with cucumber scales), even a grand piano (with a carrot stick holding the bread "lid" open) – Northeast made them all. Oscar ate them up and so did Northeast's friends when the web designer began posting his creations on Facebook.

So Northeast started a website which is providing inspiration – and entertainment – to thousands of parents (and non-parents) around the world.

"It all started as a bit of fun to cheer my son up. I picked him up from school one day and he was in a bit of a mood and didn't want to eat anything," Northeast, a 36-year-old web designer, told his local newspaper The Argus.

His first creation: a space rocket with vegetables for boosters. "He wolfed it down really quickly," Northeast told The Argus. Next he tried a pirate ship (pictured above).

"I got more and more engrossed in what I could do with sandwiches," he told London's Metro newspaper.

"I wanted to be able to open the fridge and say 'what can I do with this?' - cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, carrots and bread."

Northeast plans to turn his bread creations into dough with a book deal, but his efforts have already paid off with a kid who (happily) eats his veggies.

"Hopefully it will give parents a bit of inspiration," Northeast told the Argus. "It worked with my son. He never used to eat tomatoes before but he ate Spongebob's tie, which is made out of one, and now he eats them all the time."

Just as long as he doesn't throw them, right?

Photo by Mark Northeast.