Japanese Bento お弁当

Often we eat bento for lunch in Japan. Many people, both men and women, make and bring their own lunch boxes, especially since making your own homemade bento saves money for the family budget.

What is a Bento?

Bento is one of the styles of Japanese meals.
Bento is carried in a box with food items that are usually eaten, and the box is opened and eaten at mealtime.
There are many reasons to carry a bento, such as to school, work, on vacation, or when out and about.

In some cases, you may buy a boxed lunch prepared by the restaurant.

Especially during lunch time, many different kinds of bento are sold, including nori bento, makunouchi bento, and karaage bento.
Half of the container is filled with rice or rice balls, and the other half with side dishes.
When asked, “What’s for lunch?” and the reply is, “Bento! you may have made and brought your own lunch, or you may have bought one from a store that sells them.

Lunchboxes are full of ingenuity

For example, one of the most typical Japanese ingredients is pickled plums.
In the old days, umeboshi were often used in bento boxes. This is because umeboshi were believed to be effective in preventing the rice from getting soggy.
The “hinomaru bento,” or “hinomaru bento with pickled plums in the center of the rice,” is another characteristic of bento from the past. It is also still found in onigiri (rice ball).

In addition, many of today’s bento boxes are made from frozen foods, which are also very colorful. They are very easy to make, as they can be placed in the bento in their frozen state and will have thawed by the time you eat them.

Things to keep in mind when making Bento.

Do not put in anything that is easily bad.

Lunch boxes are often eaten after some time has passed. Therefore, do not put in items that are easily bad. Also, if it is hot in the summer under the blazing sun, put the lunch in a cooler box to make sure your food doesn’t go bad.

Avoid adding anything with a lot of water content.

Moisture can get on other side dishes and transfer the flavor, and if the container is not airtight, juices can leak out. For this reason, basically, we do not put anything in a bento that will release its own juices.
However, some bento boxes come with a container that can hold miso soup.
Please refer to this when choosing a lunch box.

3, Delicious appearance is also important.

It is not enough to just put food in the container.
It is also important to make the lid look beautiful. Especially if you are making a lunch box for someone other than yourself, pack it so that it will make a good impression when the lid is opened.
Color is especially important. If you use only dark colors such as brown, it will not look good. It is a good idea to include red and green vegetables.

Lunch boxes made for children are special

We don’t spend a lot of time on the lunches I make for myself. However, the lunches I make for my children are a little more special.
Mothers get up early in the morning and are very particular about the bento they make. Of course, the taste is important, but what is even more important is the appearance of the bento when it is opened. They are not half as particular as they should be. I will make a cute bento that your child will not be disappointed when he or she opens it.

Would you like to make your own Japanese Bento?

Just pack an onigiri and a small side dish to make a bento for one person.
Make one for yourself and turn your regular lunch into a bento.

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