Want a NOOK? Explore Now
Oh, boy—obento! These yummy, healthy lunches are all the rage in Japan, where mothers create them as expressions of love for their children. With Yum-Yum Bento Box, Crystal Watanabe and Maki Ogawa devote an entire cookbook to these delicious and adorable meals for all ages! Learn how to craft your favorite foods into a variety of shapes—from caterpillars, cars, and puppy dogs to pretty flowers, princesses, and kitty cats.
Yum-Yum Bento Box features chapters on Cuties & Critters, Fairy-Tale Friends, and Special Day Treats, plus a handy shopping guide, easy recipes for mini snacks, general tips and tricks, and so much more. Stop wasting money on pre-packaged lunches—and start making beautiful, healthy bentos!
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Hello, Obento! An Introduction to Japanese Lunches
Packing a Bento Box
Bento Boxes, Tools, and Accessories
Ingredients for Happy Faces
Cuties & Critters
Baby Bear
Caterpillar
Chickens
Eek! A Mouse!
Fluffy Lamb
Frogs
Guardian Angel
Hawaii Sun
Hungry Fishy
Kitty Cat & Goldfish
Miss Octopus
Piggy Burgers
Polar Bear
Retro Girls
Sandwich Cuties
Sunbathing Crabs
Teddy Bear Grilled Cheese
Tiger Cubs
Walruses
Fairy-Tale Friends
Enchanted Forest Friends
Flopsy, Mopsy, and Cottontail
Goldilocks and the Three Bears
I’m Bringin’ Home a Baby Bumblebee!
The Ladybug Picnic
Little Elves
Little Red Hen
Little Red Riding Hood
Magical Spring Flowers
Mushroom Friends
Musubi Man
Peter Pan
Redheaded Princess
Secret Garden
Teeny Tiny Polar Bear
Three Little Pigs
Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star
Special Day Treats
Autumn Leaves
Beach Party Hot Dog
Best Friend Bears
Birthday Present
Boy’s Day
Car Trip
Christmas Penguins
Early-Bird Omelet
Easter Baskets
Girl’s Day
I ❤ You
Pancake Mouse
Pizza Party!
Rainy Day Umbrellas
Sailboat
Snow Day
Sports
Summertime Sammies
Sunny-Side Up
Additional Recipes for Mini Snacks and Save-It-for-Later Lunches
How to Make a Hatching Chick
Shopping Guide
Glossary
Metric Conversion Chart
Acknowledgments
Anonymous
Posted June 14, 2010
This is a great book for everyone who is enthusiastic about bentoing. As a long time follower of her blog, I'm glad that Crystal "Pikko" Watanabe can finally share her bentos with the rest of the world. This book contains only a fraction of the ones she has posted on her blog which can be found at
http://www.aibento.net/
This book of full of interesting and inventive techniques to decorate your food. Plus it is easy to use and fun to do. Perfect for the experienced bento maker or someone just starting out.
6 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.CactusLeaf
Posted July 10, 2010
Erika88 might make kawaii bento and read the Japanese book, but she is missing one key point:
Akinoichigo endorses this very book on her own site.
http://aichigo.blog109.fc2.com/blog-entry-1033.html
Reading her blog, it's obvious Akinoichigo is friends with the author so who knows if they share recipes or have similar styles in some respects. The only suspicious activity here is Erika88 signing up at every outlet this book is sold at to accuse them of plagiarism like some kind of psychopath.
Bottom line, the book is great. I live in Japan, and my wife is a big fan of cooking, so she is always picking up books like this and browsing cooking blogs. We now have this bento book as well, and she loves it. She uses it often to make various bentos to bring with her to work, and from what she tells me, they get a good reception.
5 out of 6 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.I wanted this book for so long, but I have to admit I didn't think it was anything I'd be able to pull off. I still haven't tried anything yet, but the difference is now I think I can.
They break down lots of recipes to make these cute little bento lunches. They go into the history a bit, and all the tools of the trade. Then they give cost cutting ideas to get the same effect without having to buy a whole new kitchen. Crystal and Maki also encourage creativity and use of leftovers as well as balancing out the meal.
I also thought I'd need to get a special bento box, but this is another myth they slash. There are traditional and contemporary boxes, but you can simply buy a small storage container as well. Thanks goodness, I have boxes on hand for that.
I'm really looking forward to making these during time off from school, while we go on our adventures instead of just getting fast food. The small storage would easily pack up into coolers for us to enjoy later on.
2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Erika88
Posted June 9, 2010
I make kawaii obento and read the Japanese books about bento box by famous "akinoichigo". Yum-Yum Bento Box copied recipes, some exact same design as in the Japanese books. The 2 penguins exact same as the "akinoichigo" 2 penguins in her book "?????????????????". Entire book, style is exact same.
Not recommend this book. Not original, you can read Japanese obento book instead!
1 out of 11 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted April 30, 2013
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted October 19, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted June 10, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Anonymous
Posted June 9, 2010
No text was provided for this review.
Overview
Oh, boy—obento! These yummy, healthy lunches are all the rage in Japan, where mothers create them as expressions of love for their children. With Yum-Yum Bento Box, Crystal Watanabe and Maki Ogawa devote an entire cookbook to these delicious and adorable meals for all ages! Learn how to craft your favorite foods into a variety of shapes—from caterpillars, cars, and puppy dogs to pretty flowers, princesses, and kitty cats.
Yum-Yum Bento ...