Kyaraben

A kyaraben containing rice balls decorated to resemble pandas

Kyaraben or charaben (キャラ弁), a shortened form of character bento (キャラクター弁当 kyarakutā bentō), is a style of elaborately arranged bento (Japanese boxed lunch) which features food decorated to look like people, characters from popular media, animals, and plants.[1] Japanese homemakers often spend time devising their families' meals,[2] including their boxed lunches.

Originally, a decorated bento was intended to interest children in their food and to encourage a wider range of eating habits. It has now evolved to the point where national contests are held.[3]

In popular culture

Kyaraben lunchboxes are a major plot element in Bento Monogatari, a 2010 short film by Belgian director Pieter Dirkx.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Super Sied (2008-05-10). "Kyaraben: Japanese Character Lunch Boxes". Weird Asia News. Retrieved 2008-10-07.
  2. ↑ "Dude, Where’s My Food? Nobu Los Angeles – Lavender and Olive". Lavender and Olive. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  3. ↑ Itoh, Makiko (2009-07-10). "The 3rd Sanrio Charaben (Kyaraben) Contest Winners are Announced". Just Bento. Retrieved 2009-09-18.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kyaraben.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the Tuesday, October 07, 2014. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.