Japan has once again proved that they never do things by halves, this time by creating a giant Mona Lisa replica out of 24,000 senbei rice crackers in Soka, Saitama Prefecture, a town 30km north of Tokyo.
The attempt was carried out in a gymnasium, with some 200 community members chipping in to create the replica. Everyone should be extremely proud – the Senbei Lisa bears a striking resemblance to Leonardo da Vinci’s Renaissance-era original painting, and it successfully took out the Guiness World Records for the largest mosaic made with rice crackers.
Seven different flavours of senbei were used to achieve the right colours and shades, such as green tea and soy sauce.
After the final pieces were placed and the record smashed, the painting was broken up and taken home with the volunteers – a well-deserved snack!
Seven different flavours of senbei were used to achieve the right colours and shades, such as green tea and soy sauce.
“It was fun,” 7-year-old Mei Hamano told The Japan Times. She took part in the event with her family.
“It’s amazing that you can recreate a painting with senbei,” she said.
Senbei crackers are ubiquitous in Japan, mostly consumed as a savoury snack alongside a pot of green tea. Surprisingly, this isn’t even the first time senbei crackers have been used in a record-smashing attempt. In 2011, 63 year-old Michihiro Yamaguchi lead his team to victory by producing the world’s largest senbei cracker from scratch – it had a diameter of 163cm.
