soulsight®

I listened to Roland Buerk's report on BBC Radio this morning about how school lunches in Japan are raising the bar in food styling and design.

Coincidentally, while I was preparing three lunches for my kids, I listened as the reporter spoke to Japanese moms who take classes in food styling, essentially, to ensure their kids love the lunch they are given. The country's ancient emphasis on food presentation has been transformed into a trend for character bento - packed lunches made to look like pandas, teddy bears or even real people.

It seems that the parents of these kids feel that the experience of eating lunch at school needs to go beyond the brown paper bag or even the Scooby-Doo lunch box of my day. They go as far as making Michael Jackson rice balls and Play Station controller out of Seaweed. Truly amazing stuff!

I watched the reportthis afternoon (it's only 3 minutes) and the kids do seem really happy, like most people do eating anything made with love.

What I like about this trend is that it is taking customization to the next level. Hand crafted, homemade and customized lunches for kids. I wonder what this generation of kids will expect, in regards to customization, as they get older? It also lays the groundwork for some very interesting conversations, at least about how important this trend is and whether we see it growing. By the looks of it, it's not going away. But then again, neither did my Scooby-Doo lunchbox.

[VIA BBC]