Bento

A Bento prepared for Hanami.

is a meal that is common in Japanese cuisine, made to take away to be eaten somewhere else. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables as a side dish. Various kinds of containers are used, from disposable mass produced to handcrafted lacquerware. They usually have compartments for different kinds of food. While bento meals can be bought at many stores and in all of Japan, it is still considered a very important skill for a Japanese housewife to be able to prepare a good boxed lunch.

Bento can be very elaborate, aesthetically pleasing cuisine arrangements. Often the food is arranged in such a way as to resemble other objects: dolls, flowers, leaves, and so forth. For some special occasions like hanami, more elaborate and bigger bentos are prepared. People often take bento for a picnic.

Bento are often sold in train stations. These are called ekiben (駅弁). Those sold in airports are called Soraben (空弁). Kyaraben (キャラ弁), is a shortened form of the two words character and bento and is becoming more popular.

Ingredients

Here are some foods that are often contained in a bento:

• Tamagoyaki (Japanese style omelette)
• Karaage (deep-fried chicken)
• Onigiri (rice ball)
• Takosan Viennese (sausage like octopus)
• Shogayaki (pork grilled ginger and soy sauce)
• Sandwich
• Fruit

Bento Media

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  A typical bento bought from a grocery store

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  Aluminum bento box, 1961. Lid fits closely. Small compartment for condiments.

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  Hinomaru bento (just one umeboshi in the center)

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  A makunouchi, a type of Japanese bentō (lunch box). On the right is Hinomaru style rice. It symbolizes the flag of Japan. It consists of gohan (steamed white rice) with a red umeboshi (dried ume) in the center which represents the sun.

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  Shokado-Bento at Restaurant Kitcho of Shokado Garden in Yawata, Kyoto prefecture, Japan

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  An oekakiben containing rice balls decorated to resemble pandas

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  Two typical homemade bento (one open, one wrapped) with furoshiki cloths.

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  Bento served at a restaurant in Japan

Other websites

• Bento*弁当 An artistic Bento blog site (Japanese & English).
• Bento Corner An English language blog about creating bentos, especially bentos for children.
• O-Bento Net Archived 2007-08-12 at the Wayback Machine
• Bento Business Archived 2010-07-22 at the Wayback Machine A UK bento site with a gallery of bento shops and accessories in Japan, plus illustrated bento recipes.
• Cooking Cute: a bento site Archived 2007-08-26 at the Wayback Machine
• Science Channel's The Making Series: #33 Making of Convenience Store Bento (video in Japanese)
• My Lunch Can Beat Up Your Lunch! FAQ An American site on making Bento.
• Instructions How-To Traditional Asian recipe cooking step by step..
• ekiben*駅弁 An explanation of ekiben.
• club of kyaraben*キャラ弁 Archived 2012-06-29 at the Wayback Machine A Japanese kyaraben site.