Bento Box Mania
Last week both girls decided that they wanted bento box lunches. After poring through my bento box cookbook they each chose a different lunch. Louisa picked one that had cute (?) insect like shapes crawling on top of her lunch, and Annie selected one that had teddy bear rice shapes. Sadly, I didn’t have a teddy bear head rice mold (gee, I wonder how I could be so negligent?), so I substituted two valentine rice molds instead. They both decided to substitute the raccoon dog hard boiled egg for one of the elements in their box. Here are photos of the results:
Now, you’re probably thinking that this is a bit much. Joe certainly thought so as he watched me cooking and molding the rice, dyeing the eggs with the soy sauce, cooking and slicing the sausages for the tails and ears, assembling with the toothpicks, and adding the nori details. You’re all absolutely right. But this is absolutely nothing compared with the kind of bento box passion I’m finding on the internet. There are sites completely devoted to showcasing their daily bento boxes. There’s a collector with over 200 different boxes. There are bento lunches for adults as well as kids. It’s an art form that has been hidden from me until now.
I can understand that there are a few extremely passionate moms out there who lovingly prepare these boxes for their very lucky American children. But this art form originated in Japan, which explains the whole thing, in my mind. Japan is the land of ikebana, the art form devoted to simple, but perfect flower arranging. So why shouldn’t efforts also be turned to food.
My eyes have been opened. And if I had more time, I think this would be an art form I’d love to explore myself. But for now, I think my girls will have to be satisfied with bento lunches every once in a while when inspiration strikes.
If you’re interested in seeing bento lunches, far more beautiful than my feeble attempts, check out this gallery on flickr.
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I’ve only had bento boxes that contained sushi. My tastes must be really limited if not traditional.
It’s a whole new world of bento boxes out there.