What is in the "Food & Restaurant Color Palettes" collection?

Food & Restaurant Color Palettes is a curated collection of 24 historical color palettes from Sanzo Wada's "A Dictionary of Color Combinations" (1933). Warm, appetizing, grounded — the palette of Japanese dining culture.

Can I embed or share the "Food & Restaurant Color Palettes" collection?

Yes. Use the embed iframe (560×320) shown on the page for blogs, Notion pages, or design reviews. Each embedded palette links back to its full detail page. Share image (1200×630) auto-generated per collection. License: CC BY 4.0.

Where does the "Food & Restaurant Color Palettes" source material come from?

Source: Sanzo Wada, "A Dictionary of Color Combinations" (1933, Seigensha Art Publishing 2010 reprint). The Wada catalog is in the public domain. Curation, descriptions, and groupings here are CC BY 4.0 licensed.

Collection · 24 palettes

Food & Restaurant Color Palettes

Q: How was the "Food & Restaurant Color Palettes" collection curated?

Editorial curation by colorcombinations.org. Japanese food culture has one of the most sophisticated visual traditions in the world: the lacquer red of a bento box lid, the earthy warmth of konbu broth, the deep amber of soy-glazed teriyaki, the yellow-gold of dashi noodles in a ceramic bowl, the burnt orange of kaki fruit at a market stall. These are the colors the eye reads as nourishing before the palate is engaged. They work for restaurant identities, food packaging, farmers market branding, cookbook design, café menus, and any project where the brief includes the phrase "approachable and warm." Palettes are grouped by thematic resonance — mood, era, or visual language — not algorithmic similarity.

Warm, appetizing, grounded — the palette of Japanese dining culture.

Japanese food culture has one of the most sophisticated visual traditions in the world: the lacquer red of a bento box lid, the earthy warmth of konbu broth, the deep amber of soy-glazed teriyaki, the yellow-gold of dashi noodles in a ceramic bowl, the burnt orange of kaki fruit at a market stall. These are the colors the eye reads as nourishing before the palate is engaged. They work for restaurant identities, food packaging, farmers market branding, cookbook design, café menus, and any project where the brief includes the phrase "approachable and warm."

Edo era

Persimmon & Burnt Brown— 柿と焦茶

Autumn persimmon against scorched cedar — harvest colors from the countryside.

Edo era

Kerria Gold & Chestnut— 山吹と栗

The bright gold of the kerria flower against the warm brown of roasted chestnut.

Muromachi era

Scorched Brown & Unbleached— 焦茶と生成

The dark brown of scorched wood against unbleached hemp — quiet materials.

Kamakura era

Red Lead & Ink— 鉛丹と墨

The dense orange-red of lead oxide pigment struck against ink black.

Edo era

Turmeric & Indigo— 鬱金と藍

Warm turmeric yellow against true indigo — the everyday textile of Japanese farm life.

Edo era

Light Pink & Tea— 薄紅と茶

A whisper of pink against tea brown — the tone of an Edo-period lacquer sweet box.

Muromachi era

Grass Yellow & Rikyū Grey— 刈安と利休鼠

Wild grass yellow tempered by the muted grey favored by the tea master Sen no Rikyū.

Edo era

Bitter Orange & Navy— 橙と紺

The sharp orange of the daidai citrus set off by deep indigo navy.

Edo era

Kite Brown & Gold— 鳶と黄金

The warm brown of a kite's wing lit by afternoon gold.

Showa era

English Red & Cerulian Blue

Plate 1 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — English Red, Cerulian Blue.

Showa era

Raw Sienna & Pale Lemon Yellow

Plate 3 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Raw Sienna, Pale Lemon Yellow.

Showa era

Orange & Glaucous Green

Plate 7 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Orange, Glaucous Green.

Showa era

Cinnamon Rufous & Grayish Lavender - A

Plate 8 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Cinnamon Rufous, Grayish Lavender - A.

Showa era

Cinnamon Rufous & Dark Citrine

Plate 10 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Cinnamon Rufous, Dark Citrine.

Showa era

Raw Sienna & Veronia Purple

Plate 13 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Raw Sienna, Veronia Purple.

Showa era

Mars Brown Tobacco & Night Green

Plate 19 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Mars Brown Tobacco, Night Green.

Showa era

Cinnamon Buff & Light Mauve

Plate 23 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Cinnamon Buff, Light Mauve.

Showa era

Sepia & Veronia Purple

Plate 24 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Sepia, Veronia Purple.

Showa era

Golden Yellow & Pale Raw Umber

Plate 26 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Golden Yellow, Pale Raw Umber.

Showa era

Ochraceous Salmon & Night Green

Plate 32 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Ochraceous Salmon, Night Green.

Showa era

Raw Sienna & Slate Color

Plate 33 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Raw Sienna, Slate Color.

Showa era

Vinaceous Tawny & Citron Yellow

Plate 40 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Vinaceous Tawny, Citron Yellow.

Showa era

Seashell Pink & Lemon Yellow

Plate 45 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Seashell Pink, Lemon Yellow.

Showa era

Orange & Black

Plate 46 from Sanzo Wada's 1933 Dictionary of Color Combinations — Orange, Black.

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From the archive

Support the archive The full catalog, on your disk, as a thank-you.

All 378 palettes (348 Wada + 30 editorial) in five formats
Figma design tokens (W3C-spec JSON, drag into any file)
Tailwind v4 + v3 configs — drop into any project
CSS custom properties — every plate, one stylesheet
378 museum SVG plates — print-ready at any size
Full JSON — colors, names, eras, moods, dominant hues

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Launching soon. The free archive stays free, always.

Library

Colour books worth owning

The theory and reference behind palettes like this — recommended on Amazon.

Kassia St. Clair

The Secret Lives of Color

Penguin, 2017.

Seventy-five individual colors, each with a short history. Reads like a cabinet of curiosities.

View on Amazon
Victoria Finlay

Color: A Natural History of the Palette

Random House, 2004.

Investigative travelogue through dye sources — indigo farms, lapis mines, safflower fields. The journey of kurenai.

View on Amazon
Stella Paul

Chromaphilia

Phaidon, 2017.

240 artworks organized by color. A visual counterpart to Wada's dictionary.

View on Amazon

Book links are Amazon Associates affiliate links. Your price is unchanged; a small commission supports the archive. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Food & Restaurant Color Palettes

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Persimmon & Burnt Brown— 柿と焦茶

Kerria Gold & Chestnut— 山吹と栗

Scorched Brown & Unbleached— 焦茶と生成

Red Lead & Ink— 鉛丹と墨

Turmeric & Indigo— 鬱金と藍

Light Pink & Tea— 薄紅と茶

Grass Yellow & Rikyū Grey— 刈安と利休鼠

Bitter Orange & Navy— 橙と紺

Kite Brown & Gold— 鳶と黄金

English Red & Cerulian Blue

Raw Sienna & Pale Lemon Yellow

Orange & Glaucous Green

Cinnamon Rufous & Grayish Lavender - A

Cinnamon Rufous & Dark Citrine

Raw Sienna & Veronia Purple

Mars Brown Tobacco & Night Green

Cinnamon Buff & Light Mauve

Sepia & Veronia Purple

Golden Yellow & Pale Raw Umber

Ochraceous Salmon & Night Green

Raw Sienna & Slate Color

Vinaceous Tawny & Citron Yellow

Seashell Pink & Lemon Yellow

Orange & Black

Embed this collection

Support the archive The full catalog, on your disk, as a thank-you.

The Secret Lives of Color

Color: A Natural History of the Palette

Chromaphilia

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