Australian Gourmet Traveller - (01)January 2020 (1)

TakashiMurakami’sartwork

appearsinJapanSupernatural,

whichis onattheArtGallery

ofNewSouthWalesuntil

8 March, artgallery.nsw.gov.au

YourworkingrelationshipwithMarc

Jacobscontinuedfor 13 years,soyou

musthavebeenhappywithhowthat

firstcollaborationturnedout?Yeah.

WhenI cametothefashionshow,

I washuggingMarcJacobsbackstage.

Aftera week,somanymediacaught

upandsaid,“OhmyGod,Louis

Vuittondida completelynewthing

withthemulticolourmonogram.”

It hada gianteffect.Thatmoment

was, “Oh my God, we did it.”

InTokyo,youruna cafécalledBar

Zingaro.Tellusaboutthemenu,which

includesburgersprintedwithyouriconic

flowercharacter.WhenI cametothe

West,I comparedit tohowJapanese

peopleeathamburgers.InJapan,the

meat is very small. That’s why I asked

myteam,“Pleasemakethemeat

pattiesbigger.”Butmyteamdidn’t

understand.I said,“Muchbigger,

muchbigger!”Manyforeignersand

travellersnowenjoyit.And finally,

my team understood.

Youhavequiteaninterestinfoodand

you’vepostedlotsofdishes,suchas

heart-shapedpizza,onyourInstagram.

Yeah,I usedtoeata lotbutI’mona

diet.I’mona break.That’swhyI have

a super strong obsession with visual food.

Is it truethatyouwereinspiredtogo

ona dietafterreadingabouthowmonks

fast?Yeah.It’ssuperhard[laughs].For

example,I ateontheaeroplaneyesterday

andI gota bigheadache.That’swhy

I have to eat less food. But I came to

SydneytogotolunchwiththeArt

GalleryofNewSouthWales’director

MichaelBrand.AndI havetoeat,right?

I cannotsayI’mfasting.Nowmyfamily’s

hereandmyfavouriterestaurantis Din

Tai Fung. It’s here in the city. So let’s go!

Doyouprefertoworkona fullorempty

stomach?WhenI’mhungry,mybrain

is verycreative.When I eat everything,

I just get sleepy.●

PHOTOGRAPHY JENNI CARTER (ARTWORK: 2019 TAKASHI MURAKAMI/KAIKAI KIKI CO).

GOURMET TRAVELLER 27

How I eat