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Mom finds a solution to picky eaters

By on November 11, 2013

Feeding kids with nutritious food is always a sore topic in some households.  Moms constantly struggle at finding the right strategy to avoid frequent meal battles.

Samantha Lee,  mom to two daughters, has chosen her battles wisely when she experimented with different Japanese-inspired character bento meals that are as visually appealing to the kids as they are to the taste buds.

“I am quite the tiger mum. I don’t spoil my children. For example, I rarely let them choose what to eat when we go out and I have been getting them to make their own beds,  from as early as when they were just 1-plus years old,” she says in an interview with News Straits Times.

Her dishes are fun, fancy and creatively crafted from scratch using Disney character to pop star themes. To her, it’s not all about the presentation.  She stresses that much attention is given too to the nutritive value of the ingredients she uses.   Samantha does a minimum of four to five special themes a week, playing around with colors, textures and shapes.  She admits to not using the proper tools in creating her work.  “I grab whatever item is available in the kitchen such as toothpick or a pair of scissors to create my art”.   Quite a contrast from character bentos,  hers is frequently done on a wooden chopping board or on a white plate.  “Many charaben makers use  bento but I don’t like to restrict the food I prepare to fit into just a square bento box.”

Quite the artist that she is, the talented mom sketches her work before she gets to work on a theme.  Then she takes a photo and posts them on social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook.  She now has a gallery of attention-grabbing dishes shared on the internet. When she took her work online, little did the 37-year old mom know that she was to become an Instagram star.  The latest stats show that 334,899 people all over the world follow her on Instagram and another 29,969 on facebook which she joined much later.

The stay-at-home mom has been featured in several international publications and dubbed the “Instagram star”.

The picky eater issue is solved but another one has emerged.  ‘Now, my two daughters argue about which characters they will get at mealtime!’.


 

To see more of Samantha’s creation, go to
http://instagram.com/leesamantha

About Julie Wilson