Here Comes Bento Man!!!

Every office you work in develops its own traditions, and one of the weekly ones in our office is the Bento Man visits.  For those of you who don't know, Bento boxes are basically the Japanese version of a sack lunch--embraced and reimagined by the culture of Hawaii and beyond.  They traditionally come with a couple scoops of rice, some type of meat in a sauce, sometimes a fried item and some veggies.  They can look something like this:

Obviously, this is a somewhat "Americanized" version.  Bento Man tends to have a few with a more traditional flare.  And then there are the "Hawaiian" style ones with things like good ol' Spam.  If you don't know, Hawaii has a thing for Spam.  More Spam is consumed here per capita than anywhere else in the U.S.  I think only Guam consumes more.  (Note:  Although I consumed it willingly when I was a kid, I cannot abide by Spam and will never eat the stuff again for as long as I live--I promise!) 

Bentos, it seems, are a unique form of artistic expression as well.  Google the word and you will find a) tons of nifty designs for the boxes themselves, and b) (even more exciting and interesting) a whole mess of pictures of people's fancy versions of Bento.  Here are some of the one's that I particularly enjoyed seeing:

Fun stuff!  And obviously a great way to get kids to eat healthier.