Japanese mothers compete to create best looking lunchboxes for their children

Mothers can be a competitive bunch at the best of times – but where food is concerned, their killer instinct really kicks in. Now, mothers in Japan are taking competitive culinary prowess to new levels – via their children’s lunchboxes.

Kyaraben (meaning character lunchboxes) is the name given to this extreme lunchbox artistry, where rice balls, sushi, salad and fruit is shaped into cartoon characters like Hello Kitty or SpongeBobSquare Pants, or animals.

Websites and blogs offer tips on how to create the colourful creatures (see cloud9food, gajiinlife and annared.com for excellent examples), and mothers have got to such a high level with their culinary artistry that national competitions are held to give awards to the best.

American mothers have jumped on the bandwagon too – with one making a perfect Miss Piggy out of pasta shapes.