‘Bento’ is basically the Japanese word for lunch box, or a complete portable single portion meal, but like most Japanese things, this is a deceptively simple way of looking at something which has become an elaborate phenomenon. In Japan, convenience stores on every street carry a huge range of pre-prepared bento lunches, and Japanese mothers are encouraged to lavish much time and attention on making these lunches nutritional and visually appealing. Time and time again when reading Japanese writing on the subject, you’ll discover that the bento is as much a connection to home as it is something to eat – like many things in Japan there are layers of meaning tied into what in the west is a relatively simple and unexplored part of everyday life.
Of course, it’s not all mystic tea ceremonies and inscrutable ancient wisdom – in recent years, just as many other Asian cultural curiosities have made their way across to the west and been adapted by foreigners, bentos have too. Bento boxes can be snapped up on eBay and a good many American internet sites (nothing in the UK yet, but I’m working on it!), and books containing bento box recipes have been translated into English. In many areas, Oriental ingredients aren’t that hard to find, and as a bento subculture has emerged on the net, fuelled by sites like Livejournal and Flickr, westernised substitutes have been popularised.
The truly authentic bento box has some rule governing what specifically should be included (for example, the 4:3:2:1 ratio – see below), but these days if you’re making bento boxes as a hobby, you shouldn’t concern yourself too much with restrictions. As a test of your cooking skills, your creativity and your imagination, you won’t find much more of a challenge than a bento.
History of the bento
Culturally, bento boxes appeared as far back as 1568 in the form of elaborate lacquered bento boxes – the type of which you might be familiar with from set lunches in Japanese restaurants. Onigiri (rice balls) were always popular as a portable lunch item, and during the Edo period bento preparation, presentation and consumption became more widespread and elegant. A particular type of bento was created for patrons of the theatre to eat in between scenes, and eventually ekiben developed – lunch boxes containing local specialities sold at train stations. After this boom, however, bento boxes became the subject of social concerns, as poor students could be identified by the contents of their meagre lunchboxes, and concerns about the damaging consequences of too much rich food affected the rich. Post World War II, schools provided food for students and teachers, meaning the culture of bento making suffered a blow.
Fortunately, during the 1980s, bento boxes became popular once more, thanks to microwave ovens and convenience stores. Disposable bentos could be made of polystyrene and plastic, and cold lunches could be heated up. Hooray – bento revolution! Now homemade bento boxes are common in schools – if you’re a manga fan you’ll no doubt have seen at least one bento box in your time.
Bento contents
There seems to be two schools of thought about the exact ratio of different ingredients that should be included in the bento box. According to some sources, bentos should be made in a ratio of 4:3:2:1, with four parts of rice, three of a meat or fish side dish, two of vegetables and one of pickles. According to other sources, the ratio of rice to side dishes should be more like 1:1, with the side dishes consisting of a ratio of 1:2 for meat and vegetables.
Realistically, these are not exact and are just guidelines, and bento boxes made in the west, adapted for western tastes, will rarely follow these guides. None of the bentos you’ll see on this site were created with that in mind. Supposedly, bento boxes are supposed to contain leftovers from the previous night’s meal, meaning that they are an economical way of recycling food and avoiding waste. Again, for a westerner this could prove difficult as many of the dishes we eat can’t be used in bento boxes – cold fish and chips, anyone? If you eat Japanese food regularly you’ll be laughing, but if you’re like most of us you’ll have to buy in specialised ingredients and make the dishes purposefully for bentos. Looking at some Japanese bento box recipes, however, I don’t think it’s all that uncommon to make bentos from scratch in Japan – certainly some of the more elaborate bentos with character designs or patterns must have been purpose built – who really has a Hello Kitty face made of rice left over after dinner?
Outling your bento aims
When making a western bento meal, just outline what your aims are to yourself first, as this will help you make sure you achieve what you set out to do. Do you want to make bento lunches that are beautiful so you can upload them to your blog? Do you just want to use up leftovers? Make lunches more exciting for yourself? Lose weight by avoiding the traditional sandwich, crisps and chocolate route? Learn more about Japanese cuisine? Let loved ones at work or school know how much you care for them by preparing delicious meals? It's possible to do all these things with a bento box, which is why they are rapidly becoming more popular in the west. Just bear in mind that elaborately styled bento boxes cooked from scratch will be time consuming. Some of the bento boxes on this site took two hours or more to cook, which is fine for me because I enjoy cooking - others of you may not have the time to waste on styling cucumbers into tiny stars or making sushi! Preparing bento dishes at weekends is important and will save you some time during the week.
Traditionally, bento boxes in Japan are prepared in the morning by Japanese housewives. In the west we're more likely to make our lunches the night before. It's certainly not too challenging to do this with bento boxes, but you might find that items such as rice dry out overnight. As you make more and more bento lunches you'll begin to find out what works and what doesn't, and there are plenty of hints and tips on this site that can help. For example, you might want to invest in a rice cooker which has a timer so you can set it up overnight and have the rice cooked for the morning when you can just scoop it into waiting bentos. Bear in mind that hot rice needs to cool before you close the lid on it, as condensation will form and make your rice (and anything else in the bento) soggy.