3 Willy Wonka Wannabes Who Brought Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Foods to Life
By: Marissa Brassfield
Published: July 7, 2011

"Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory" and its modern counterpart "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" continue to thrill moviegoers with their larger-than-life representations of candy rooms and chocolate waterfalls. Inspired by the films, these Willy Wonka wannabes brought Roald Dahl's world to life.
1. George Larnicol: French chocolatier George Larnicol thrilled the city of Concarneau in September 2010 when he launched a life-sized chocolate boat. The 3.5-meter boat was made of pure chocolate and had a sugar framework; it took about 400 hours to build. This boat ride, however, was far less terrifying than the one in "Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory."



2. Dave Hart: Dave Hart, a professor and food scientist at the Institute of Food Research, has pioneered a boiled candy that delivers different flavors through layers, much like the three-course meal gum that brought Violet Beauregarde to her fruit-filled end. The Institute is currently experimenting with microcapsules that can release different flavors as the gum is chewed.
"Tiny nanostructures within the gum would contain each of the different flavors," explained Hart. "These would be broken up and released upon contact with saliva or after a certain amount of chewing -- providing a sequential taste explosion as you chew harder."



3. Bompass & Parr: Inspired by Dave Hart's research, London duo Bompas & Parr created a pop-up Artisanal Chewing Gum installation at the Whiteleys Shopping Centre. The shop featured over 200 flavors of gum, ranging from arugula to black caviar and foie gras, using colloidosome flavor encapsulation.
"Keeping it simple, colloidosomes are made by putting particles (in our case, flavourings) inside water droplets, and then suspending the droplets in oil containing the colloid particles," Hart explained to FoodNavigator.com.
Bompas & Parr also created a chocolate waterfall using 5 tons of chocolate for an installation earlier this year.