Watermelon carving champ seeks third straight crown
The watermelon carver’s primary tool is a straight-edge, one-sided Thai blade.
He bought it online at Amazon for $40 or $50 and likes it best because “it’s super flexible.”
While he uses it most, it’s only one of the tools of his trade. He carries it in a black-and-yellow, 16-inch Stanley toolbox – along with all kinds of knives and punches, toothpicks and skewers, wire cutters, tweezers and dry-erase markers.
There’s a cheese plane in there, too.
But, before cutting the deep reddish pink flesh into an elaborate rose relief, sports team logo or cartoon character, “You really need at least one big knife to take off a flat spot so it’s not rolling around on you,” Ryan Allison said.
This is the third year in a row the award-winning, self-taught watermelon carver has entered the National Watermelon Promotion Board’s Annual Watermelon Carving Contest. He’s also hoping it becomes the third year in a row that he wins. Entries are accepted until Aug. 3.
Allison, 22, carved his first watermelon back in culinary school after watching a video on YouTube. “I wanted to impress my culinary friends,” he said.
But he didn’t even impress himself. “It was ugly. It was terrible. It was disproportionate. Real-life flowers aren’t perfect, but I knew I could do better.”
A year and a half later, at a regional conference of the American Culinary Federation in Coeur d’Alene in 2013, he attended a workshop and – along with other culinary students – got a private demonstration on fruit-and-vegetable carving from an expert chef.
A few months later, he entered his first watermelon-carving contest – and won. He earned first place in both the Funniest and Watermelephant categories as well as third place in Best Fruit Basket.
Last year, he took third place in the Funniest category and fourth place in both Best Animal and Best Star-Spangled, or patriotic, categories.
There were four winners in each of the five categories, including Most Elegant and Best Fruit Basket. Allison entered all five in 2013 and 2014. He plans to do the same again this year.
He’s been thinking about what to carve since last year.
In his day job as pantry chef and line cook at Manito Golf and Country Club, he sometimes gets to carve edible centerpieces or garnishes. He has a side business, too, carving fruits and vegetables for decoration. He typically charges $40 for the first hour and $20 for every hour after that.
“Texture-wise, it’s challenging because you get blemishes that you have to work around or cut off,” Allison said. Also, “You have to be really careful that it doesn’t just fall apart.”
On the upside: “Watermelons are huge. So you get a lot of canvas space. And you get three different colors. You get a lot of contrast.”
Once he makes that first slice to create a stable base, Allison coaxes a design from the red, white and green fruit. His favorites are the funny ones.
“I’ve always been a funny guy,” Allison said. “It’s more of a challenge to come up with something that will make people laugh. I like to do kind of pop culture things that kids like. Kids like cartoons. Cartoons are usually pretty funny looking.”
Sometimes, he hollows out the watermelon and stuffs it with waterproof lighting for a more dramatic effect.
He’s carved the head of a Gonzaga University bulldog as well as the KSPS and Seahawks logos. For a baby shower, he created a baby carriage. “It had little grapefruit slices for wheels.”
He’s done a pirate ship, too. And several swans.
Elegant carvings such as flowers or swirls are easiest. Toothpicks secure loose petals.
“I use tweezers because I have big sausage fingers. They call me ‘Meat Claw’ at work,” Allison said. “So if I have a really, really tiny piece, I need the tweezers to pull it out.”
Sometimes, he eats his work.
“It used to be every single piece. After like the fourth one, you get tired of watermelon,” he said. “But every year, I start eating it again.”
His fascination with fruit carving started at a young age. “When I was little, I used to take a pocket knife to apples and make funny faces,” he said.
He carves pumpkins, too. But as July is National Watermelon Month, that’s a story for October. Besides, he likes watermelons better. “Pumpkins are just so tough. They’re more work. You have to be careful of the hollow part. And you have to peel it first before you get started.
It’s more shaving than carving.”
Either way, he doesn’t want to hear cracking. “It means your cuts didn’t connect and you have to rip. Sometimes you rip petals right off,” he said.
Allison is a 2013 graduate of the culinary program at Spokane Community College. He usually carves his contest entries in his living room, then sends photos of the finished products to the National Watermelon Promotion Board. Established in 1989, it’s the nonprofit marketing and communications branch of the watermelon industry.
He generally doesn’t carve outdoors “because of bees.”
His dream job used to be running his own Irish pub somewhere. But now, he’s not so sure.
He’d love to own a fruit carving business that specializes in hand-carved, detail-oriented designs – not cookie-cutter arrangements.
Meantime, he thinks it would be the coolest to carve fruit as a caterer at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
To see more of Allison’s work, visit his website, www.thegarnishguy.com. Call (509) 202-2397.