Fake Food Chef

Monday, October 16th 2006, 10:49 am

By: News On 6

Remember the TV commercials that asked "is it real or is it Memorex?" Well, in Broken Arrow a woman's garage is filled with scrumptious looking baked goods, candy apples and chocolate dipped strawberries.

Are they food, or are they fake? News on 6 reporter Rick Wells took a look and in every case they're fake.

Brenda Chapman is making candy apples. â€œThese are going to Smuckers; they have a little gift shop.â€ The movie producers of Santa Claus 3 called needing some candy apples, she said sure, never made them before but she knew what they looked like. It's just a Styrofoam apple with red colored resin dripped over it.

Then there is the strawberries, they're just Styrofoam strawberries dipped in brown colored rubbery hot glue like stuff. She has been making fake food like this for 12 years. She says getting the color right is the hardest part, but if she can see the real one she can make it fake. â€œMost of what I sell goes into individual homes, or to stores who sell it to people."

They use them as decorator accessories, but also into model homes, furniture stores, even restaurants. Her fake food business is really booming. "This year so far I've made over 17,000 items, myself."

Some of the techniques are ingenious, like some cupcakes or a cake.

At one point I got a tickle in my throat and started coughing, I grabbed a cup of tea for relief. Brenda Chapman: "would you like a drink?â€ It looked real, you big dope, did you forget where you were?

Brenda Chapman says she is an excellent cook of real food, but the fake stuff is her business. To check out her food, click on www.justdoughit.com.