Save
Looking for a way to make lunchtime more appealing for your kids? Here are some great links to get you started.
Eating in the bento way can be a way to educate young eaters about the pleasures of a varied meal and how to combine tastes, and it’s a also a way to make office lunches more inviting. Looking for inspiration? Here are some great blogs and websites to get you started.
The two blogs BentoLunch (written by Shannon, a Canadian raising her kids in Dallas, Texas) and Happy Little Bento (written by Sheru Fujihara Chen, who lives with her family in San Francisco) are both wonderful sources for inspiration, especially for parents who are looking for ways to get their kids to eat a wider variety of foods in a fun, playful manner.
From Japan, but written in English, there’s Just Bento, a wonderful blog by Makiko Itoh that will delight and invite even the most refined adult tastes. From this site, you can flip through recipes or follow the myriad links to other sites that will get you started on your bento adventure. Itoh has also collected all the best recipes into one book, The Just Bento Cookbook – Everyday Lunches To Go.
Since half the fun of eating bento is choosing your box, don’t miss a stop at Casa Bento! This French site (with an English-language option) is perhaps one of the most exhaustive in the world, and you’ll find bento boxes, thermoses, bags, chopsticks and all kinds of accessories for any taste and age – from classic retro models, to Pokemon to pop. Be careful, you could quickly become a bento box collector...
Another great blog for lovers of Japanese cuisine, from bento and beyond, is Shizuoka Sushi and Sashimi, where you can glean inspiration for preparing all kinds of delicacies as well as learn about the raw ingredients in Japanese cuisine, from wasabi root to umeboshi plums. As far as we can tell, the blog hasn’t been updated since 2010, but there’s enough here to satisfy any appetite!
Photo courtesy Carebearbento.bentolunch.net
