I'm Biggie: avid cook, speedy lunch packer, mom & former expat fluent in Japanese. 
Lunch Links
I’d like this to be a comprehensive, organized list of packed lunch blogs and online communities. If you notice something I’ve missed or have an active packed lunch blog you feel should be included, please add a comment here. Particularly helpful or active sites are underlined.
COMMUNITIES
- About Bento Boxes: LiveJournal community for consumer reviews of bento boxes and accessories (non-commercial)
- Bento: Moderately active bento community on Vox
- Bento Box Brigade: Small community on MySpace
- Bento Boxes: Large and very active Flickr group for bento lunches
- Bentolunch: Large and very active LiveJournal community for bento lunches, with online and geographic shopping guides
- Bento Challenge: LiveJournal community for bento art created around a weekly theme, such as “My Favorite Song”, Harry Potter, or “Self Portrait” (often cross-posted to the Bentolunch community). See also the associated Bento Challenge Flickr group.
- Bento Critique: Flickr group for kind, constructive criticism of your bento lunch
- Bento Porn: Flickr group for best-in-class bento lunches
- Bento Swap: Flickr group for free swapping of bento boxes and gear
- Diet Bento: Flickr group with low-calorie bento lunches
- Eat My Bento: Large and very active new LiveJournal group for bento recipes and tutorials
- Happy Good Bento: Delphi Forum with conveniently threaded bento discussions
- I (Heart) bento: Bento a Go Go fan listing
- Iron Bento: Flickr group with bentos by weekly ingredient theme, a la Iron Chef
- Kid Eats: Flickr group of children’s packed lunches
- Lunchbox Recipes: Flickr group for recipes of dishes particularly well suited to packed lunches (all cuisines)
- Laptop Lunches: Flickr group for lunches packed in the Laptop Lunchbox
- Mr. Bento Porn: Flickr group for lunches packed in thermal lunch jars only
- My Bento Collection: Flickr group showcasing bento boxes themselves and equipment
- Vegan Bento: Flickr group for vegan bentos
BLOGS
- Apples and Twigs: Vegan bento blog with the occasional child’s lunch (link is to bento-related entries only)
- Adventures in Bentomaking: Pikko’s fun food blog with an occasional Weight Watchers focus
- All My Bento Are Belong to Me: Feisty Foodie’s bento lunches
- Bento Anarchy
- Bento Bento: English-language bento blog based in the Netherlands, with a focus on fast and cheap.
- Bento Business: British site for bento resources in the U.K., also has bentos with recipes.
- Bentocentric: Bento blog by a college student
- Bento Corner: An American mom born and raised in Japan makes adorable kyara-ben or food art character bentos for her children. Back in Tokyo and blogging again after a one-year hiatus, she sheds light on how to create cute food art and comments on bento-making in Japan.
- Bento Fettish: Bento blog by a teen Japanophile.
- Bentonoibii: Bento blog with ‘kyaraben’ food art for adults.
- Bentos by kastinkerbell: Adult lunches on healthy eating plan (through http://www.sparkpeople.com), with basic nutritional information for each lunch.
- Bentos for Vegans: Vegan bento blog with methods for organizing a vegan pantry, planning meals, etc.
- BentoTV: Video blog with little bento packing tips and an associated eBay store (check around for competitive prices first, though)
- Bento Yum: Bento blog with many toddler and children’s lunches
- Berlin’s Whimsy: A mom’s crafty blog with posts about bentos and Laptop Lunches (link is to lunch-related entries only)
- BLD Bento: Healthy, weight-loss bento lunches for adults
- Chocolat Vanille: Japanese Flickr user who packs beautiful bentos in Tupperware
- Cooking Cute: Comprehensive resource site for elaborate bentos (on hiatus, but good archives)
- Cooking 4 All Seasons: Vegetarian Indian tiffin lunches for adults (link is to tiffin-related entries only)
- Face Food Bento: Food art “kyara-ben” bento blog from the author of upcoming book Face Food: The Visual Creativity of Japanese Bento Boxes.
- Frank Tastes: Quirky bento blog with fun illustrations, anthropological commentary, and beautiful photos
- Freakin’ Tasty Bento: Be sure to check out the post Bento for Cheap Bastards for thrifty tips on equipment and food
- French Bento: French-language bento blog by Flickr user Moniki. English version here, translated by Google (translation link in the right column).
- Just Bento is from the creator of Japanese food blog Just Hungry, and focuses on speedy diet bentos for adults, mostly vegetarian, with recipes and tips. Cool graphic timelines bring an easy-to-grasp glanceability to the lunch prep and packing process.
- Just Jen: Diet bento blog (link is to bento-related entries only)
- Kawaii Kiki: Vegetarian bento blog with beautifully composed lunches and photos (link is to bento-related entries only)
- Kitchen Cow: Informative Filipino bento blog with beautiful photos
- La Petite Biscotte: Bilingual English/French bento blog with mostly vegetarian food
- Lunchbox Gourmet: Website with lunchbox recipes, focusing on Laptop Lunchbox and thermos meals
- Madwoman with Shallot: Vegetarian and carnivore bento lunches for adults
- Milk Plasma on Toast: Bento lunches by a Canadian in Sweden (link is to bento-related entries only)
- My Bento Diet: weight loss bento blog is part of a larger website
- My Bento Lunch: Cute bentos for children by mom Myria who lives in Japan
- My Lunch Can Beat Up Your Lunch!: Come on, you’ve got to visit for the name at least! By the co-moderator of the LiveJournal bentolunch community.
- Main-Main Masak-Masak: Singaporean food blog with bentos using food without colourings, flavourings, preservatives or other artificial additives, as little sugar as possible and using whole grains
- Names of the Dead: Cooking and bento blog (link is to bento- and cooking-related entries only)
- Not Exactly Bento: Bento and cooking blog with recipes
- Novice Bento: Bento blog
- Obento Baby!: Bento lunches for adults and children, with some egg-free/milk free recipes for a child with food allergies
- Obiwan Bento: Flickr user (formerly known as One More Bento Fan) with innovative food, makeshift containers and molding of alternate grains. Not a blog, but interesting nonetheless.
- Oh! Bento: Bento blog that includes meals for diabetic as well as non-diabetics (currently down)
- Oh, Bento: Bento blog
- One Bite at a Time: Cooking and bento blog
- Pieces of Earth Foods: Bento and food blog with adult lunches
- Playing with my Food: Milk-free food blog with bento lunches as well
- Silverkeys.writes: Varied blog with bento entries (link is to bento-related entries only)
- Tanuki no Bento: Filipino bento and food blog with restaurant and street photos
- The Allergy-Safe Gourmet: Packed lunch & snack blog (variety of containers including the Laptop Lunchbox) by a woman with multiple allergies (green beans, tree nuts, certain tree fruits, and corn)
- The Bento Girl: A kindergarten/preschool teacher blogs about her bentos and school
- The Vegetarian Bento: Vegetarian bento blog
- This Little Bento: Bento blog where the author makes ovo-lacto vegetarian lunches for herself, and omnivore lunches for her husband.
- Vegan Lunch Box: Award-winning vegan lunch blog for a child (now defunct, but good archives)
- Were Rabbits: Jokergirl’s vegetarian bento blog with beautiful photos
- What’s for Lunch at Our House?
- Willow’s Bento Box: Healthy bento blog
- Zoe: Bento blog from LJ user Skirtin a Smile, soon to be focused on weight loss
NON-ENGLISH BLOGS
- Bento, lunchbox, pique nique etc…: French-language bento blog with occasional children’s lunches
- Bento pa Svenska: Swedish-language bento site
- C’est dans la boite!: French-language bento blog
- French Bento: French-language bento blog by Flickr user Moniki. English version here, translated by Google (translation link in the right column).
- La dinette de Nam: French-language vegetarian bento blog
- La Petite Biscotte: bilingual English/French bento blog with mostly vegetarian food
- Mes p’tits bento: French-language bento blog by Audrey, with slightly diet food for adults
- O-Bento.net: Italian-language food art bento blog and store
- Qu’est ce que tu cuisines?: French-language vegetarian bento blog
JAPANESE BENTO BLOGS (just a sampling, there are thousands!)
- Ajinomoto Kyaraben
- Bento Obento
- Chakkari Bento
- Crazy Bento
- E-obento.com (click on the month for bento photos)
- Hirasol’s Kyaraben
- Kyaraben Club
- Kyou no Obento
- Lunch Box
- My Obento
- Obento o Tsukuro!
- Obento Blog Portal
- Onigiri
- Nokoron no Okiraku Seikatsu
- Rico & Coco
- Riri no Obento
- Smile Mama no Obento
- Tanoshii Obento
- Uetoto
- Yasuko-san Daidokoro
- Yoko no Blog
- Waku Waku Character Bento
BENTO SELLERS
- Bentolunch online shopping guide: Compiled by readers of the active Bentolunch community on LiveJournal with feedback on sellers; minimal self-promotion
- Bentolunch geographic shopping guide with local store info from all over the world (compiled by readers of the active Bentolunch community on LiveJournal). If you know a local store that should be added, just comment on that entry! Help support the lunch-packing community by sharing your knowledge.
- Daiso: Japanese dollar store with locations internationally (including the U.S. West Coast)
- Sugar Charms: Online store with inventory in the U.S., prices usually a little cheaper than eBay
- Lunch in a Box’s Amazon store showcases a variety lunch-packing products, including bento boxes, thermal jars, accessories, stylish insulated lunch bags and utensils. Purchases made through this store or my Amazon search box support the Lunch in a Box blog without any additional markup over regular Amazon prices.
- Lunch in a Box’s San Francisco Bay Area shopping guide. I have no affiliation with any of these stores, I’m just an avid local shopper and know what I like.
FOR PARENTS
- Spatulatta: James Beard Award-winning website that features kids teaching kids how to cook healthy meals
COOKING RESOURCES
- eGullet.com: Active food message board with influential food writing
- Cooking for Engineers: Analytical cooking
- America’s Test Kitchen: Cooks’ Illustrated’s free site with well tested recipes and equipment reviews
BLOGGERS I KNOW
- Cafe Fernando: Award-winning beautiful food blog about baking and Turkish food.
- Fit2Cook: Lean Chef presents healthy cooking and a fit lifestyle
