I first heard about Bento lunches on NPR. That's where I hear about everything because I'm a faithful (addicted) listener. Japanese children enjoy lunch at school because their mothers make itzy-cute lunches with creativity only surpassed by the nutritional value. When my children were little--and the Rolling Stones were young--we made banana faces on pancakes with strawberry red hair and raisin noses. We decorated bologna with shredded cheese for hair and olives for a nose. We had books on "Feed Your Kids Right" that told us kids will eat things that are cute. In my house, that worked for awhile. Eventually, cute wore off and the oldest daughter regressed into a picky eater snubbing her 8-yr-old nose at vegetables, which lasted until she was in high school and became a dedicated vegetarian, dedicated to saving cows, pigs, and chickens. Urbanfig's photo of uber-cute food design tells me that I didn't try hard enough. Now that I have grandsons, I have another chance. I'm going for the pirate ship!