The Art of the Lunch Box

In Japan, anything can be considered a work of art. Take flower arranging for example. There is a special word for it: ikebana. I have not done it myself, but there is a particular way how to arrange flowers. There are a lot of aesthetic elements to pay attention to in Japan and it can be quite overwhelming.

One type of "art" you can say that I sort of take part of on a mundane, daily basis is making a "bento" or boxed lunch. Stay-at-home moms make it int an art form, sometimes making Mozart's face out of vegetables on a bed of rice. Me? I am a bit more basic. though I do want those special molds that make rice into the shape of a heart, star and teddy bear head.

Bento box lunches are 4 parts rice, 3 parts veggies and 2 parts meat. I really don't pay attention to the rules, but I always have rice, veggies and meat. It beats a sandwhich and its way healthier. And because of the rice, I am happily full.

The boxes themselves come in all different shapes and sizes. I myself got a more traditional looking one that is very nice for about 1000yen - some of them can get quite fancy, even with airlock seals to bring soup. I once tried to bring tofu with kimchi and ended up with kimchi juice all over my Jack Spade messenger bag. Luckily for me, the interior of the bag is bright orange as well. So here is a bunch of photos with the bento that I have made.

This was my first bento - the small pink bottle has soy sauce in it. Usually I boil frozen veggies in the morning since it's quicker - they cook while I get ready - and sprinkle oregano on it. Once I put basil on my fish and it was delicious. I always grill my fish in my oven, no oil.

Most of the time, I just shove my rice into the top container that has a tupperware like lid. But if I have time, I use this rice mold to make small rice balls, and on occasion I wrap each one with nori (seaweed). Since plain rice with soy sauce is messy, I usually flavor my rice with furikake, which is flavored seaweed and spices for the rice.

And this is how the rice balls come out - 1/2 cup rice gives me 5 rice balls. I always make my rice the night before since I make one cup and divide it - half for dinner and half for lunch. Also saves time in the morning. Like the fish, I put my shumai in the grill, so like the boiling vegetables, everything is cooking while I get ready.

Bento boxes have an elastic that holds all the pieces together so that it doesn't fall apart in transit. I have my chopsticks (which are traditional looking, a small cherry carved into the top of each chopstick) in a Hello Kitty case.

Finally, you wrap the whole thing in a furoshiki - a large handkerchief. I once used my silk Burberry neck scarf, but after I got some soy sauce on it (which actually disappeared on its own) I just use this old headscarf that I brought with me.

And then - you put the whole thing in its own bag, just like a lunch box. Luckily for me, I have a very stylish one - my mini Herve handbag. Now I use it as my lunch bag - hold my bento, a bottle of water and maybe a piece of fruit. Sure beats using one of those small handled shopping bags, like from Bath and Body Works.

Yum!

Making these things are a lot of fun. When I get back home and have access to a bigger, better kitchen and more types of food (its just tricky for my here since I have something that barely qualifies as a kitchen) I can use my box to bring leftovers or make really good stuff. Just like Japanese umbrellas, I am going to come back home with a bunch of bento box sets.