Actual Brain Food: 7 Foodie Ideas to Spice Up Your Friday

This week’s Brain Food really is nutritionally inspired. Pringles Cans are used as a canvas for teeny tiny art, brains are moulded into chocolate and there are seemingly innocent sweets that have the ability to blow your head off. There's also a couple of bonus features at the end including drawing to keep you fit and some Aussie commuters being totally awesome people. 

1. Anya Hindmarch’s Mini-Mart

English designer Anya Hindmarch is hoping to bring “luxury to the not-so-luxurious world of mini-mart products” with this sleek, evocative store. Think Rich Tea biscuit, retro style Frosties, Swan Matches and Daz washing powder clutch bags, shoulder bags and handbags. And when I say luxury, I mean it. The shop is in London’s uber exclusive Mayfair and priced justly so, with novelty bags starting at around £600 and rising steeply. But whether you can afford anything or not, from a design point of view the shop looks like a delight to wander around in. You can find it at 99 Mount Street, London, and it’s open until September. See more images of the shop here and the full collection here.

2. Chocolate Brain

Here’s a good use of science. A guy named Andy Millns had his brain MRI scanned, 3D printed and turned into a to scale chocolate, ready to chomp on. That’s the basics. Instructables has more on the techy nitty-gritty here. 

3. Barisieur

Move over tea maid and your sub-standard, wishy-washy cups of urine-like caffeine. Welcome Barisieur and your freshly brewed, velvet-like cups of strong coffee. The Barisieur is an alarm clock and coffee brewer created by designer Joshua Renouf that boils the water using quiet ball bearings that avoid a rowdy wake-up. It’s not available for purchase yet, but they’re estimating it’ll cost around £250. Pricey but worth it, in my eyes. Learn more here.

4. Gummy Peppers

Trick your biggest foe or drunkenly dare your best pal with these fiendishly wicked little sweet gums from Vat 19. Moulded into the shape of jalapeño, habanero and ghost chilli peppers, the gums are also infused with corresponding heats and flavours. They’re available in a three-pack for $9.99 here.

5. Pringles Cans Railway Dioramas

Artist Akihiro Morohoshi uses empty pots of Pringles to create these super cute railway dioramas. Be sure to check out more of his dinky railways on other canvasses, like electric guitars. 

6. Running Drawing

I hate running. Well, maybe not hate. But the struggle of peeling my lazy ass from the comfort of my bed to venture outside and exercise is, for me, one of life’s biggest chores. However, I think San Franciscan Claire Wyckoff may have hit the nail on the head for how to get my ever-jigglier body out the door with her Nike+ drawings. She has taken to running certain route shapes to draw things with her satellite enabled Nike+ technology - mostly penises, actually. It’s not all varietal phalluses, though. There are Space Invaders aliens, middle fingers, corgis and more. Could this be the future of race route mapping? Perhaps. See Claire’s full collection here.

7. Saved Aussie Commuter

Sometimes people are awesome. This Australian commuter's leg was saved by some quick thinking and willing people at a Perth train station.