Gallery hub sites that provide links to interesting content all over the web seem to be the latest craze, so naturally a hobby as cool and full of win like bento had to eventually get its own, right? Thus, Bento Central was born.

Read on to find out more about what the site is all about.

Being an impulsive and impatient amateur website thinker-upper, I certainly thought the internets needed something like this and needed to have it ASAP. A helpful soul on Twitter pointed me in the right direction and I found what I needed to get started.

It needed a name, though! It had to be catchy, relevant, and available. Hmm…

• Bentolunches.com! TAKEN.
• Bentohaven.com! TAKEN.
• Bentoheaven.com! TAKEN.
• Insert about a dozen really stupid bento domain ideas like Bentobuffet.com or Bentopia.com here.

All out of ideas, I asked the hubby for input. Ten minutes later, he gave me Bento Central. It sounded great, fit nicely, and opened up a ton more ideas for what the site could be than what I’d originally planned.

So just what is Bento Central about? It’s your one stop for “Anything and everything you need to know about bento!”. It’s a sharing mechanism for your bento photos and a place for you to drive traffic to your bento blog.

This site will showcase bento content from around the web all in one area including Articles (written pieces on bento or news media), Goodies (products for sale, special deals, and contests), Lunches (bento that you made and snapped a photo of), Recipes (food that works great for bento lunches and how to make it), and Reviews (opinion pieces on bento related products).

If you don’t have a bento blog, you can use Bento Central as a place to post your bento photos without having to set up your own blog and maintain posts. Content is still being added, but eventually with the help of user submissions, Bento Central will be all you need to see the best of bento online.

Want to get hits for your bento blog? Upload your bento image, write a brief summary, and link back to your blog. Submit your post and if approved, it will appear in the relevant categories. Your post might even be chosen as a feature!

Hopefully that gives you a good idea of what this site is all about. Read the FAQ if you have more questions!

I hope you all are as excited as I am about the potential of this site. Register today and start contributing!