What’s interesting to me is how functional this is, not just decorative. The fake food isn’t about realism for its own sake, but about reducing ambiguity: you instantly understand portion size, ingredients, and even relative price without sharing a language. In a way it feels like a very physical form of UX design, solving a real communication problem long before digital menus or translations were common. I’m curious whether this tradition persists mainly out of nostalgia now, or if restaurants still see measurable benefits from it.