There is an article about bento lunches in the Wednesday, September 9th edition of the New York Times, titled What's for Lunch? Enter the Bento Box, a Touch of Japan, by Samantha Storey. I'm quoted there several times; also quoted are my fellow bento bloggers Pikko of Adventures in Bento, Biggie of Lunch in a Box, and many others - including quite a few Just Bento readers! (It's up to you to match up the real name with the online presence :)) It's one of the best mainstream media articles (in Engish) that I've seen so far - not just focusing on over-the-top kyaraben, or bentos for little kids, as many seem to do. (Samantha also blogs about her own bento-ing efforts.)

If you've found your way to Just Bento via the NY Times article, welcome! If you are new to bentos, you might want to start with the Bento Basics section. Bento friendly recipes of all types, not just traditional Japanese (though there are plenty of those too) can be found on the sortable recipes list. If you want to look at complete bento examples with step-by-step instructions and timelines, take a look at the bento lists. Want a way to ease into the bento habit? Try the Get Started Handbook, or follow the Get Started Bento Challenge program. You'll find a lot more useful links on the left of this page. Last but not least, you may want to join our community of bento enthusiasts by <a href=http://justbento.com/forum">joining our great forum, or our flickr pool.

Welcome to the wonderful world of bentos! お弁当の世界へようこそ！

(Update: Mook of FrenchBento has posted a translation of the article in French. (Mook de FrenchBento a une traduction française de l'article pour les francophones.)