Toasting Art: The Coolest Thing Since Sliced Bread

White, wheat, rye, cinnamon raisin, Italian, organic, French, smothered with fruit flavored jelly, lovingly wrapped in peanut butter or swimming in cream cheese; toast has always offered up a variety of artful formulas to create the perfect slice. But there are several even more innovative ways to make you daily bread a masterpiece.

New Zealand’s Toastman Maurice Bennet has been creating works of art using toast and “flame as a paintbrush,” for several years and has been featured in lad-mags such as Maxim and FHM. Works include celebrity portraits such as Elvis, imitations of famous works of art, beer bottles and renditions of ancient Maori panel carvings. He toasts thousands of pieces to different shades and places them together to create shade and light.

Lennie Payne uses a blowtorch and scrapping tools to create his toast portraits. He flattens and then lacquered to keep the moisture out so the bread stays dry and wont rot or turn moldy. This is done after the bread is toasted. It is stuck onto a base with some silicon adhesive and voila. He makes mostly portraits and does some religious work as well.

Interested in making your own toast art? Targets new toaster (http://www.target.com/, $34.99) takes a new spin on pop art with a new toaster that imprints shapes such as smiley faces, flowers and hearts on your bread. Could mornings be any merrier?

Or if you're having an elegant dinner, Minale Maeda's Table Manners Collection (http://www.minale-maeda.com/) makes an intricate design that looks classy. It comes with a matching plate, but mixing it up with different table ware keeps things visually interesting and fresh.