I have posted a lot of my my own bento's on here, but I thought I would also make a blog entry about what is so good about them and why I make them and think that bento lunches are better than canteen/cafeteria lunches. 1. Bento lunches encourage the lunch-goer to eat a variety of fruit and vegetables (bento's a usually based on colour coordination, usually the more colourful the bento, the more variety of nutrients you are eating) 2. Bento's are cheaper than eating out and are much much healthier. I've seen canteen lunches (although these days the Aust. Government is stamping out selling bad food in schools) and I see a lot of processed or deep-fried options, and the sadest thing is... even though many people are given an alternative with healthy sandwiches, salads etc. they still seem to go for that deep fried food which you should only eat every once in a while. 3. Food allergies are much easier to handle when you make your own bento lunch. You know what's in it, you or a loved one are much less likely to have an allergic reaction from a bento lunch when all the allergy precautions have been taken at home. 4. For people who don't eat certain foods due to religious beliefs, a bento is a sure way to ensure that those foods are not eaten. 5. Left-overs are almost always used, reducing food waste and allows us to be much more economical ^^ 6. Children love colour, a colourful bento will always attract the attention of children and encourage them to eat their vegetables (providing you make those vegetables tasty too). 7. It's something to look forward to at lunch time, a cute/tasty looking lunch always brightens up your day! 8. Bento's are rarely boring as everyday there is something different to eat. 9. It allows the bento-maker to be creative and make new foods 10. Making a bento yourself encourages others to make bento 11. Bento's don't have to include Japanese food in them, you can include whatever you like! 12. Bento's are not as time consuming as people think. If you are reasonably organised and make a lot of the bento food the night before (or use leftovers that have been in the freezer), you don't really consume alot of time. It is only time consuming if you want to make very fancy foods (cute shapes etc) or you aren't very organised. 13. Allows us to feel full (and not bloated) after eating. =) 14. People who make bento's usually lose excess weight because they are controlling their diet with good healthy food that hasn't been deep-fried or is full of salt/sugar and/or preservatives. I could easily write more points but I think it will get too over-bearing haha. I won't probably be making any bento's until uni starts up again (at the moment there is no need for me to make bento's while I'm at home), I've been trying to find other photos of bento's that I have, but it seems many of them got deleted by a certain family member  . I will try to make more bento's once I get back onto uni campus. <3 So if you've ever thought about bento making, it might be a good time to think about starting ^^ You don't have to be a creative artist to be a good bento-goer ^^ | 
Anyway here is the not-so-pretty bento!
) but it is very nice and it's not too spicy either ^^
