Da Vinci portrait created with Italian food

Leonardo da Vinci's iconic self portrait has been reimagined as a food masterpiece.

Photo: Bang

The culinary tribute to the legendary Italian artist has been given a culinary recreation to mark his death 500 years ago this month.

Restaurant chain Bella Italia commissioned the tasty piece of artwork to celebrate his life and work, and as part of its launch for its new menu.

The portrait included a hat and coat made of two artisan breads; eyes made of mozzarella and olives, with fusilli, rigatoni and conchiglione pasta details; chicken breast and fettucine pasta face and chicken wing nose; and two types of spaghetti for the beard.

Food artist Carl Warner said: "I was thrilled when Bella Italia asked me to take on this challenge - the abundance of fresh, beautiful ingredients from the new menu gave me a great 'palette' to work from when reimagining the classic artwork by one of the great Italian masters.

"The contrasting textures and shapes of the different varieties of pasta worked particularly well when defining the details in the face of da Vinci, which I just hope he would have enjoyed."

Célia Pronto, Chief Customer Officer from Bella Italia, added: "Given our expertise in pasta, and with our new menu launch coinciding with the 500th anniversary of da Vinci's death, it felt like the perfect opportunity to celebrate the Italian genius in the way we know best - with delicious Italian pasta and produce! We're delighted with the finished product."

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