Book Review - Bento Fun By Alice Foo

Have you ever read a recipe book from cover to cover? I just did. I read Bento Fun by Alice Foo.

What I like About Bento Fun By Alice Foo

This is one pretty recipe book. It looks so good, just like a scrapbook. Bento is a work of art so I like that the book looks like a work of art too. The pictures of the Bento and side dishes featured are colourful and amazing. Each section of the book is easily recognizable by its sweet pastel colours and scrapbook like background designs.

Who This Book Is For

Whether you are a novice or an expert or even if you don't prepare any Bento at all but would like to have an idea, suggestion or tips on types of nutritious food you can pack for your child to school, this book is for you.

The book starts off with an explanation of Bento, what it is and why you should pack Bento for your child and useful Bento Packing Tips to keep your Bento fresh since food often have to be kept several hours till kids recess or lunch hours.

Then it moves on to the basics of making kyaraben or Character Bento including shaping rice balls, colouring rice and quail eggs, making coloured egg sheets and tracing and cutting from templates.


The novice will find the pictures of Bento making equipment and accessories useful as a guide including the common ingredients for making Bento.

Next the book moves on to the Bento recipes. There are 32 recipes in all. These are divided into Beginner, Intermediate and Advance level Bento recipes.

If you have never prepared a Bento in your life before but you are interested to pack cute, appealing yet nutritious food for your kids,  you will find the side dishes and finger food sections interesting. Here you will find recipes for healthy foods for kids in small portions cooked in healthy ways. Alice uses the air fryer (or oven as an alternative) a lot in her recipes.She prefers these healthy ways of preparing food to avoid having oil-soaked lunch boxes.

Finally the book ends with step by step picture guides on making kyaraben or the Character Bento tutorials.

A shopping guide on where you can find Bento equipment and accessories online and offline is also included plus a glossary of some of the terms used in the book.

The author, Alice Foo uses the pseudonym Angeleyes in the Bento community. She is a stay-at-home mother of two girls and a boy. This book is a culmination of all her years of experience preparing Bento with love for her children's lunch boxes. The ideas are practical, simple and quick to prepare. Healthy food choices and food preparation methods are recommended and used by the author.

I would like it if the book's content's section was more extensive for example the recipe pages should be included in the main content instead of at the beginning of each section. This will make the recipes easier to find. Fortunately each section has different coloured pages so it is easy to find just by looking at the sides of the book.

I find this book useful for parents who are interested in preparing their own food for kids to bring to school for recess or for lunch.

This book is currently available to the members of our parenting platform including our website, blog and FB groups at a 20% discount. Click here to order.