I think a lot of the food you saw in albums was made by Cherry (Sakurako). She makes some fascinating food with FIMO (polymer clay).

It's really fun to make your own doll sized food - Kamilla and I have had lots of fun making cookies and other foods already. You can experiment a lot with it.

FIMO is just the trademark of the German original produced by Eberhard Faber. Another polymer clay is called Sculpey and you get either of them at craft stores like Michaels, Joann's or A.C.Moore.

In case you wonder what FIMO stands for, here is a short history:

In 1939 K?the Kruse, one of Germany's most famous doll artists, was looking for a new material to make the doll head production easier. A brand-new material had been developed and no one knew what to use it for, she tried it but it didn't work out properly. Her daughter Sophie Rehbinder-Kruse, then experienced a lot with the new material adding other pastes and colors and created vases, mosaics, tiles, miniatures, figurines, toys for children and flowers with thin petals. During the difficult war years it was also used to produce practical things like table mats or shoe soles for sandals, which could be exchanged for food.

In 1954 Sophie Rehbinder-Kruse finally introduced the product to the public and had named it "FIMOIK" - using part of her nickname "Fifi" and the product she mostly made out of it, mosaics (in German "Mosaik").

They had a good connection with the toy shops due to their doll manufacture, and therefore could successfully sell "K?the Kruse's Ofenknete" (K?the Kruse's Oven knead) as a creative toy for children.

In 1965 Eberhard Faber bought all rights and licences of the material, improved the recepes and started selling it as FIMO.