page_title: La Carmina
section_title: Books
hierarchical_section_title: La Carmina / Career / Books
caption_attribution_description: English: A self-portrait of Canadian celebrity La Carmina.
context_page_description: La Carmina is a Canadian blogger, author, journalist, and TV host. She specializes in Goth and Harajuku fashion and Japanese pop culture. She has been described by Qantas as "one of the best-known names in the blogging world, having authored three books and hosting travel segments for international television networks." She also appeared in one of the segments on the Tokyo episode of Bizarre Foods on Travel Channel.
context_section_description: In 2009, Perigee (a division of Penguin Books) published La Carmina's Cute Yummy Time, a cookbook based on Japanese "charaben" ("character bento"), a style of bento in which food is decorated to resemble animals, cartoon characters, and other such figures. She took all the photos and drew illustrations for the book. La Carmina's promotional tour included book signings in US cities and an appearance on The Today Show. The Guardian named Cute Yummy Time as one of the oddest book titles of the year, and the Washington Post recommended it in
  Gift Guide. Sarah DiGregorio of The Village Voice's "Fork in the Road" food blog wrote of Cute Yummy Time that "this kind of cute food (or kawaii food) seems less about eating and more about, well, looking cute and feminine while cutting food into elaborate shapes and not eating".
  Mark Batty Publisher released Crazy, Wacky Theme Restaurants: Tokyo in 2009, a hardcover book with full color photos. In a review, The Vancouver Sun wrote, "Think of it less as a guidebook and more as a
  ghost train ride where whimsical, madcap and absurd images of some 30 theme restaurants
  materialize at every turn [...] Her tales flow effortlessly, with erudite explanations of
  what she sees in Tokyo's many subcultures [...] Brace yourself for a kitsch fix."
caption: La Carmina with her Scottish Fold cat, Basil Farrow
exif: {"Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "44", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5269"}