Kids are picky eaters. No doubt about it. From eating solely sweets, to refusing to eat anything that has touched on the plate, to hating specific ingredients so much that they go into a full-blown tantrum with no return. So, getting your kid to love the food you make is one of the biggest parenting challenges not meant to be tackled by everyone.

But one Japanese mom of three is taking her cooking skills to a whole new level. Etoni Mama is treating her children of 12, 10, and 8 years old to intricate, colorful, and mouth-watering meals that get your stomach rumbling just by looking at them.

Incredibly, the mom from Tokyo has no prior training in food art, but she is definitely a master of kyaraben. A form of character bento, kyaraben is an elaborate style of arranged bento that features fun food assembled in such a way that they look like real people and movie characters. Let’s take a look at Etoni Mama’s food masterpieces down below that work wonders for any type of food pickiness for kids and adults alike.

More info: Instagram

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Bored Panda reached out to the creator of this beautiful food art and the busy mom of three elementary school children from Tokyo to find out more about her work.

Etoni Mama said that she first started making fun dishes in order to make it more appetizing to her kids. “I first got an idea to create a face out of ingredients in order to make it fun for my picky second daughter,” the woman said.

She also said that even though her children are really strict when it comes to evaluating her creations, she still “enjoys it very much.”

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Lance d'Boyle
Community Member
3 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'll be wontonning some of these for lunch! (thank you, thank you {bow left, bow right})

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Etoni Mama added that: “When I look at the ingredients, I can imagine many characters. But since it’s the food for my daughters, it is absolutely necessary for it to be delicious.”

The woman said she doesn’t have as much spare time as she’d like, because “I work as a nursery teacher,” but it takes her about one hour to finish one intricate dish. She also said it makes her super happy to receive so much positive feedback from people of all ages and all corners of the world.

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Lyra Fortune
Community Member
3 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Adorable and I bet they taste great too!

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Malene
Community Member
3 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

how do you bend the squid-sussage legs? It looks so easy - and cute!

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ChinaPandas122
Community Member
3 years ago (edited) Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

winnie the orange pooh oh i mean a ...... a idk what fruit it is in english but it's a 柚子

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Perfumista Perfumista
Community Member
3 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't normally hug my food before eating it, but in this case...

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Valquerys
Community Member
3 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Now playing..........MY NEIGHBOUR TOTO-YAM

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See Also on Bored Panda
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Lyra Fortune
Community Member
3 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

These are going to haunt me. But... those little hats!

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Beryl Smith
Community Member
3 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

All of these creations are amazing . Such talent almost too good to eat

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Sara Holt
Community Member
3 years ago Created by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I wish the ingredients were identified. I couldn’t even tell what many were other than the obvious ones like rice and kiwis.

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Note: this post originally had 83 images. It’s been shortened to the top 30 images based on user votes.