The Various Kinds of Bento

http://babyxbaby.com/recipe/charaben/0008.php

The bento, Japanese boxed lunch, is marvelous! It is useful for children to eat a balanced diet. When I was a child, my mother made it for me every day. I sometimes make it in Japan since I became a junior high school student. It is interesting but also a little hard for me because I have to think about the balanced diet. Now, there is the cute bento in Japan. Children love to eat character-driven bento boxes, called charaben. For example, they make a kind of animal’s face and colorful bento. I think it is easy for children to eat all their lunch in lunch time.

The Japanese typical bento is like on omelet containing fried rice. Most parents are busy in the morning. To make bento is important for their children. However, parents have to do other housework so they need to make food easily. This bento, which has well-balanced nutrition and needs a short time to make, is the best.

There is the traditional daily bento. The onigiri rice balls are the most popular and famous for bento. Cold rice is formed into balls with a stuffing of something with a strong flavor, such as umeboshi, a dried, salt-pickled Japanese apricot. It is so sour but I like it. Sometimes, the inarizushi, rice with deep-fried slices of tofu, is contained in the bento. I like the inarizushi very much because it is sweet and delicious. My mother occasionally made it for my bento when I was a kindergarten student. I’ll never forget the flavor of my mother’s bento. I want to make such a nice bento for my children in the future. The bento is Japanese culture but I hope to introduce it to people all over the world.

Research Notes

Ikuko Mitsuoka, Kawaii Bento Boxes, Boutique-sha, 2010