Lunches of endless novelty and imagination

December 9, 2008 7:54 PM

Obento wonderland. A site in Japanese which (appears to) chronicle one bento-crazed artisan's daily lunch-making ritual. Let no lunch be without novelty! You don't need to be able to read the text to get a perverse kick out of the images.

My wilted Vegemite sandwiches were never this entertaining. Is this amazingly cool, or a vaguely unpleasant reminder that food is more abundant in some places than others? Never mind all that - Puppies! Frogs! Blossoms! Do you dare eat the art?

posted by lottie (12 comments total)

So what are all those white things that are on top of a lot of that food?

Cool pictures, and I would surely eat it, otherwise you wold just be playing with you food ;)
posted by benk at 9:02 PM on December 9, 2008

I love love love cute bento art.
A great find, thank you!
posted by ClarissaWAM at 9:07 PM on December 9, 2008

bento-crazed, indeed.

it seems like so many of the activities revered, here, are of this fleeting nature: getting drunk beneath the cherry blossoms which only bloom for a short time, once a year...spending a good twenty minutes preparing a cup of tea to the best of one's ability... devoting hours to the artistic arrangement of clearly doomed cut flowers... and preparing beautifully decorated lunchboxes just to have them consumed in the blink of an eye.

the saying ichi-go-ichi-e refers to using this moment in time to do things (any things) as beautifully as possible, because this moment is the only moment guaranteed. seems very apt when I look at these amazing little digestible dioramas.
posted by squasha at 9:09 PM on December 9, 2008 [5 favorites]

I found some Wall-e bento box the other day, via reddit. And then some more.

I predict a surge in Obento futures (OBOX) when tommorow's markets open.
posted by hellojed at 9:12 PM on December 9, 2008

@benk

In some cases fish cakes, in some cases cheese?
posted by lottie at 9:12 PM on December 9, 2008

ホー ホー ホー
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 10:35 PM on December 9, 2008

This is easier to understand if you let Google translate this page:

Of course, Santa and the combination of over-the-counter is made of candy. I really admire! How much can be made for each one? Secret's daily zowie! To make good on the wreck, cheap!
posted by twoleftfeet at 11:09 PM on December 9, 2008

Before you die, you see... the ring.
posted by FatherDagon at 12:20 AM on December 10, 2008

There is some level of status attached to having your mom make you a really cool bento with popular characters in it, according to my elementary school friends. But they say that in the overall scheme of things, content wins out over presentation. I think that the mommies feel pressure from other mommies, and they get into a kindof competition over it.
posted by donkeymon at 2:47 AM on December 10, 2008

also available in an english-language version.
posted by snofoam at 3:46 AM on December 10, 2008

Donkeymom, here's an interesting (if old) article about that by Jane Singer. I like to do it sometimes just because it is fun.
posted by mikepop at 6:25 AM on December 10, 2008

If I lived in Japan, I would die of starvation. There's no way I could eat food that cute.
posted by aftermarketradio at 7:21 AM on December 10, 2008