|
Bento is a commonly seen single serving meal that is packed
at home or bought as take out to take on the go. Bento originated in Japan, but has become a widespread solution for
daily lunch packing in the United
States in recent years, most commonly among
parents looking for a creative lunch idea for their children’s school lunches.
Bento boxes can be purchased in a variety of materials with
different characters on them for decoration, one of the most common bento boxes
being Hello Kitty in the United
States. They can be made of metal, plastic
or the more traditional Japanese style of wood. Bento boxes range in prices
from a few bucks up to quite a good amount of money depending on the material
they are made of and how elaborately they are designed. Cheap plastic bento
boxes are often used to pack children’s school lunches and often parents have
more than one at home so they can change up the look for the child.
Part of the fun of using bento for your meals on the go is
the creativity involved in preparing the food that is inside. One of the more
traditional foods found in many bento boxes is onigiri or omusubi as it is
commonly called. Onigiri is simply rice formed into triangle or oval shapes and
wrapped in nori (seaweed). Traditionally a pickled filling of some sort is
inserted in the middle which is thought to preserve the rice while in the
bento.
Bento is made to be packed with out the need of icepacks to
keep the food chilled or without needing a microwave to heat the food. Bentos
are eaten at room temperature which is why certain foods are recommended for
them and others aren’t. In Japan
pickled fruits and vegetables, rice or noodles and some type of fish or meat
are most commonly found. In the United
States many people use leftovers from the
previous night’s meal or include various other foods cut and prepared in an
artistic way. Preparing bentos has become a hobby for a lot of enthusiasts or
utilized by many parents as a way to get their children to eat healthier.
There are a variety of recipes available online for foods
that work great in bento boxes and creative ideas for ways to prepare those
foods to make them fun. There are also numerous blogs and websites dedicated to
the bento as it seems to be a popular part of the hobby to post your daily
bento online to share with other enthusiasts.
|
