Bento box better than ban on "junk" food ads

In the UK, we ban ”junk” food adverts to get kids more interested in eating healthily.  In Japan, they have the art of bento box meals.

Check out the Flickr side of mimiito’s photos  which records the stylish “packed lunches” prepared by one US mum.  Or read the tag cloud for this site which is almost poetic: 

apple avocado avocadosalad babybel bbqchicken beefsoboro bento bentoblog broccoli carrots cheese chexmix chickennuggets corn cucumber cucumberandtomatosalad cucumbers curryrice edamame favabeans grapes gyoza hamburger inari ingengomaae ingengomae iridoufu kamaboko kampyomaki llttleplasticbottle littleplasticbottleshapedlikeabunnyrabbit makizushi mango meatballs nashi networkedpublics nikudango onigiri peanutbutterandbananasandwich porkginger potatosalad quaileggs ranch salad shakegohan shakeonigiri smokedsalmonminipitas soba spinachgomae spinachtamagoyaki strawberries sukiyaki swisscheese  arakoonigiri tomatoes torisoboro tunasandwich turkeymeatballs umeboshikonbugohan veggiesticks yakisoba

The Japan Times reports the bento boxed lunch is an art form - but it can also be fun as well.   There is clearly a lot of love that goes into preparing the meals every day.  Unlike the vast majority of food advertised to children - hence the Committe for Advertising Practice apparently intends to expand the restrictions on “junk” food and drink advertising to under-16s beyond television to cover print, internet, poster and cinema adverts from 1 July (according to the Guardian although no story yet on the CAP site).

Not surprising maybe given that levels of obesity in the latest government Social Trends report show an increase (from 1975 to 2005) among boys aged 2 to 15 in England from 11 per cent to 18 per cent, and among girls of this age from 12 per cent to 18 per cent.

Some other interesting figures show that in this 30 year period consumption of fresh and processed vegetables (excluding potatoes) fell by 4 per cent (and the amount of fresh potatoes and potato products eaten fell by 43 per cent - said to reflect a greater move to pasta and rice).

But we’re apparently increasing our fruit intake - up 60%, mainly reflecting more fresh bananas, grapes, stone fruits and pure fruit juices - but fewer fresh oranges,
apples and tinned fruits.

Now if only more parents prepared such beautiful love tokens as mimiito - I’m sure we could get children more interested in eating well.  See www.e-obento.com for inspiration.