Betcha Can't Eat EVEN One!
Here's how our good friends, the Japanese, manage to stay fit and trim so that they can continue to hand our Cheetos-enhanced behinds to us in the cuteness department: Food so adorable you don't want to eat it. Go ahead -- you order a plate of this stuff and see if you aren't still staring at it three hours later.
Bon appétit, Paulina J.
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Now I know where they get the expression "so cute you want to eat it".
/bleen
The ears on those Hello Kitty pastries sure look kronschable.
Man, I want kids JUST so I can make these for them.
A whole new meaning of "Playing with your food"!
so
very
*WRONG*
(that said, best hovertexts ever)
I forgot how much I love that site. Japanese mom's rule for making the cutest and most creative bentos in the world (and they look pretty darn tasty too).
I think I still have my recipe book that shows how to make stuff like this... natsukashii!! T_T
Such cute bento lunches! ^-^
And yep, I'd be staring for a bit, but then my tummy'd rumble and I'd have to dive in.
Totally, insanely, genius. I wouldn't eat it anyway - I can't stand Japanese food.
I would love to know the inspiration behind the (clearly strife-filled) hot-dog octopus wedding. Looks doomed for divorce despite the soulful afroed wedding singer...?
this is madness!
That's so cool! I love it that some of the bowls actually have ears. And Mike, "Hello Tasty" - BWAAAAAAAA!
aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaccccccckkkk
Actually, it's so cute I DO want to eat it.
NOM.
That's it. I'm moving to Japan next time I need to diet.
Obviously, Meg has taught us to nom the ears, first. If not the paws....
NOM!
LOL - I found a bento-themed shirt I wanted to post the other day but didn't want to hijack the threads for something so off-topic. I figure this is as good as it's gonna get.
http://shirt.woot.com/Derby/Entry.aspx?id=21327
(If any of you are shirt.wooters, go vote!)
GAH!
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
Viewing things like this while eating makes a banana seem totally inferior in comparison.
It also makes me want to spend time learning how to make it for myself;).
American Cutologists have not yet reached this level. We may never, but we must strive.
Oh and crunchy frog may not have been popular, but it is one of my favorites.
I would still perform soft cronches. That stuff gonna get in my mouf one way or another.
I don't know if this would catch on in the US- I put notes in my kids' lunches, but I don't think I'd have gone this far...
crunchy frog? what about lime creme?
too...many...eyes...
I guess I'm the only one who thinks it's cute, but kind of creepy, and definitely not something that would catch on here.
These aren't kids' lunches, people. The blurb at the top specifically says they're ordered, so you'd get these bento boxes at a restaurant. I think there are some parents who would do that for their kids, but if Japanese kids are anything like how I was when I was a kid, it'd all get smooshed to one side by lunch time from my lunchbox being repeatedly rolled and spun.
My kids could never eat those anyway, because the food is...touching! Oh, the HORROR! It's contaminated!
For me, it's cute but a tad bit creepy. I'd have a hard time making that first cut. Where to start? It's a little Hannibal Lecter.
The only one I could eat without crying is Mr. Froggie Lettuce Head guy.
Ok, to start I'll have the Behbehs Ina Blanket. For my entree I'll have the Cow Combo. Oh, and for desert the Octopus Family. Thanks.
I love that there's an actual gadget in existence whose sole purpose is to make those hot dog octopuses!
http://www.octodog.net/
omg....
Its cute food....
Hello Kitty hot pocket? *shakes head* Genius.
Cutest...
Food...
EVAH!
The Hello Kitty snack things are super delicious. If they're the ones I'm thinking of, they're filled with yummy chocolate and the outside is a sweet sugar cone like substance. Mmmm!
But the other stuff is TOO cute to eat. How could ANYONE eat that first one???
Oh dear heavens, that's Mr. One-Inch! Complete with his rice bowl boat and chopstick punting stick.
Dang those Japanese! *shakes fist* They even make carbs cute.
CoffeeCup- My mistake, and I don't read Japanese, but I don't see where it say ordered from a restaurant. I do know a Japanese Mommy now in the US who does make these for her children's lunches on special occasions. Now, can you imagine some fine young go-go Japanese businesman sitting down to any of these in a resturant, clients in tow? Delightful concept, eh, what?
Way too cute! Kinda perplexed what some of the ingredients are though on some of them.
So, what do we have, Power Rangers cake molds and some snazzy Jello molds, so little competition there....
Who says American mom's don't make this stuff... Remembers fondly the teddy bear and Animal shaped pancakes, fruit plate animals .. Pizza ala faces... shall I go on. They were fun and cute and it was done frequently.
One of my Christmas cookie specialties is truffle filled mouse cookies and you would be surprised how many adults make over them.... and the bonus is that they are delicious.
Hello Kitty calzones?! *faints*
Those toast faces are adorable! And the cow. I love the cow.
To CoffeeCup:
The tradition of Obento is certainly used in Japanese school lunches- in fact parents pride themselves on just how over-the-top-cute they can make their kids lunch. The goal is to elicit a smile when the box is opened.
That's not to say that adults don't equally enjoy them, they do.
SQUEEEE!
The hotdog people are just. Too. Much!!
I don't really like my food to have eyes especially big googly ones.
I don't get it. Why are the other hot dog people mad at the bridge. Because she gets to wear the designer outfit?
OMG, are those hotdogs!!1!
Uh, briDe.
LOVE the crab with the sushi rolls for eyes. Not just cute, but damn creative. Awesome!
Do Japanese kids really expect their moms to make lunches this elaborate? And do many of the moms actually do it??? If my kids had expected something like this rather than a hastily-slapped together PB&J they would have gone hungry.
I LOVE the crab with the shrimp "legs", and the pancake/bread/donut faces - just adorable. The Japanese are truly the masters of Cute.
Ummm.....my dad used to write funny notes as absence excuses for my sick days....and sometimes my mom would cut the pb&j into the shape of the letter J....
....my parents, needless to say, are not Japanese.
Nope...can NOT eat tha riceball kitteh, even tho she's got her adorabobble belleh exposed and she's smiling up as if to say, "I just DARE you to pour soy sauce on meh!!!"
The others....I might be able to.
someone (a school teacher in Japan?) needs to make a photoblog of bento boxes after they've been subjected to "the backpack treatment."