While the boxes themselves ran the gamut from simple to sumptuous, the food itself was often carefully arranged to resemble real-world objects, such as dolls, flowers or leaves. No surprise, then, to find out that current boxes for the young, called charaben, combine traditional approaches to healthy eating with the modern visual tastes of Japanese youngsters.

A new book by Mark Batty Publisher, Face Food: The Visual Creativity of Japanese Bento Boxes, throws some light on this tasty tradition and features its contemporary incarnation. We have writer and designer Christopher D Salyers to thank for this collection of lovingly crafted culinary creations, many painstakingly assembled by mothers for their schoolchildren. So say hello to a lunch in Pikachu form that we're told is made from beef, carrots, quail egg, broccoli, cherry tomato, egg, fish cake, green beans, imitation crab meat, lettuce, potato salad, rice, sausage and seaweed. Wow, I'll take one of those!

Interesting from dietary and cultural perspectives, yes, but ultimately these carefully constructed meals are driven by the same passion that lies at the heart of all truly great design. Thereby serving as yet another reminder of what makes anything we do worth doing—love.