Edible Book Festival

On Saturday April 11th, my library participated in the International Edible Book Festival for the first time. The edible book festival takes place in public and academic libraries and bookstores all around the world on or around April 1st. The purpose is to create edible works of art that celebrate books!

Here are some of the entries from our festival:

"The Catcher in the Rye"

My boss made this with a loaf of rye bread that he carved and a paper print out. Very creative :)

"Fast Food Nation"

Our teen librarian made this fun edible book using food from McDonald's 

"Frank n' Stein"

This edible book won the prize for best individual entry and best pun/funniest entry.

"Chicken Soup for the Pet Lover's Soul"

My coworker made each of the dogs out of pipe cleaners and they look like different dog breeds with proper markings. Very impressive and cute :)

"Shades of Blue"

A coworker made this blue themed Easter basket with blue coconut grass that she dyed herself and all kinds of blue Easter candy. I think it is very pretty.

"Save the Cupcake"

This edible book won best youth entry and People's Choice. The teen's father told me that he'd started teaching her how to bake when she was just three years old, the same age that his mother taught him. I thought that was really sweet and was happy she won.

"Some Pig"

This was my entry inspired by Charlotte's Web. I got the idea for the pig from Taste of Home but I used store bought sugar cookies that I dipped in pink candy melts. I used strawberry wafer cookies for the ears, a strawberry marshmallow (also dipped in melting chocolate) for the nose and chocolate chips for the nostrils and eyes. Charlotte is a mini doughnut with pretzel legs and M&M eyes (found on Pinterest) and the letters are made using a candy mold. The web was made from melted white chocolate. 

"Game of Thrones"

This impressive Game of Thrones cake was made by a teenager and her younger brother. They used fondant and air brushed the cake like professionals. Needless to say, they won for best group/family entry and most creative.

In addition to voting on the entries, we also had a cupcake decorating contest for kids and teens and served a book shaped cake and punch for refreshments. I thought our first edible book festival was a big success and hopefully it will become something we participate in annually.