Bento, as defined by Dictionary.com, is “a meal, usually served in a lacquered or elaborately decorated box that is divided into sections for holding individual portions of food.”

My personal opinion is that bento box lunches are AWESOME. They”re all so colorful and creative — almost too great to eat! Do yourself a favor and Google image search “bento box,” you won”t regret it! I was amazed myself by how realistic the portrayed characters are — it”s hard to believe these are made out of FOOD.

Here are a few favorites:

I can”t get over how cute these pandas are. The hot dog cheeks kill me.

Whether or not you”re a Hello Kitty fan, you cannot deny that this bento is well made. Love, love, love the bees! I think any elementary-aged little girl (or even some adults I know) would enjoy getting this in their lunch.

I included this bento simply for the radish mice! They are insanely cute. (And I don”t even eat radishes.)

This bento box trend just takes the usual AM lunch packing session to a whole new level. Not sure about you, but now the old “brown bag it” and “throw it in a plastic grocery bag” routines just sound lazy. Luckily there are many websites, blogs and books to help out newbies like us on this food creativity adventure. Not to mention, it looks incredibly fun and would be a great project with the family!

Are you already a seasoned bento box master? Share your creations with us!

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