We all pushed strange, squishy foods around our plates in childhood to make the mystery meal disappear, so who knew that grownups would actually have fun playing with food. Leave it to clever moms to master a mix of nutritious cuteness with hand-sculpted lunches to entice children’s curiosity in those healthy greens.
Japanese Kyaraben or Charaben (Character bento), are popular lunch boxes designed with lots of love and some of the cutest arrangements of food available. Definitely too cute to eat, this tradition of sculpted food is slowly becoming popular in the west. The list below includes some delicious links to get you acquainted with this food art and provide tips for designing your own as well.
Anna the Red’s Bento Factory is a great blog which includes great inspiration and detailed instructions for creating your own character bentos.
Exploring the food art of Kyaraben, Face Food: The Visual Creativity of Japanese Bento Boxes by Christopher D. Salyers is a book featuring photos of completed bento boxes and history highlights of this tradition.
Images from Sakurako Kitsa’s Photostream
Images from Luckysundae’s Photostream
