Mothers around the world always tell their children not to play with their food.

But two men are making a living off this big no-no, creating various characters and shapes using all types of fruits and vegetables.

Joost Elffers, originator of the “Play With Your Food” series, started his journey back in the 70s creating these special characters. Since then, Elffers and artist Saxton Freymann, who specializes in carving and creating facial expressions, have created more than 400 characters from simple ingredients.

“You can see in nature the images,” Elffers said. “They see [characters] because they have the shape of something else [in their mind].”

Despite creating characters that require little skill to expertise level, Elffers’x personal favorites are the ones that require little effort due to the shape of the fruit or vegetable.

“The least we do, the more I like it,” Elffers said. [Our favorites} are the “ones we have not done anything to; ones we have found in the shape of animals.

“We not only see a pig in a lemon, we look for the right lemon,” he said.

When you, too, become an expert, Elffers said “You see the glorious lemon and then also the pig.”

The new installment in the series, “Food Play,” serves as a “best-of” book combining 300 of the very best images from the series, which spans over a decade.According to Amazon.com, “This compact collection will surprise and delight both fans of the series, and newcomers to the enchanting world of “Food Play.”

As for the future of the series, Elffers dreams that his characters will one day make their appearance on the big screen, adding, “Our characters are ready for Hollywood.”