Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Lots of great recipes. (There's one for deep-fried carrots that comes out tasting like sweet potato. My dad hates cooked carrots and he was eating these like candy.) There are ways to prepare things ahead for bento, what's best made fresh and what can live in the fridge for a while, and many other great tips. Definitely a keeper for the bento library. My only quibbles (and they are small ones) is that this is not necessarily a beginner's bento cookbook. It expects some previous knowledge of how to cook in a Japanese fashion. (If you are a newbie to this sort of cooking, I highly recommend the youtube channel Cooking With Dog, hosted by a lovely grey poodle. The videos are an excellent way to familiarize yourself with Japanese cooking and their recipes are also delicious.) It is translated from a Japanese magazine, so it will not hold American hands through the very basics. On the other hand, this is a good thing because it doesn't rehash the simplest of recipes over and over and over again. (Rolled Egg Sheets, I'm looking at you.)