Obento - Portfolio

On Thursday January 22nd, I had the pleasure of making a Bento box for my friend Neil. The experience was entirely new to me and I must say I enjoyed it. To give a little background on the Obento, Japanese mothers would make a special boxed lunch for their kindergarten aged children. In turn the children must eat the entire contents of the box. For a mother, it would be an embarrassment if the food contents were poorly constructed and for a child it would be disrespectful if a child did not eat everything.

This practice is so different from an American style lunch bag or box. Most mothers still put time and energy to make sure their children receive the proper nourishment but they are not so concerned with the aesthetics. A typical American school lunch consists of a sandwich in a plastic bag, chips, an apple, juice box and perhaps a special treat. Everything is packaged separately which draws similarities in the Obento box where the different food items cannot touch. Once lunch time the trading begins, Americans are interested in getting the prize food item and will trade their lunch away to achieve this goal. My weakness was Oreos, I would trade anything! What does it say about Americans who are okay with trading their lunches away and Japanese where this practice is virtually forbidden. Does it even occur to the Japanese that they could trade their lunch?

Anyway, back to making the Obento. Most of the items that were provided I was unfamiliar with, (except for the broccoli and the chicken) so I was not completely at ease in putting the box together, but for the most part I found it fun and rewarding and because I was making it for someone, I wanted to make sure it was aesthetically pleasing to the person who would be eating it. At the same time I was making the Obento for someone, that person was also making me a box. He asked if I had any food restrictions, I said no pork but was willing to try anything else, but then I quickly realized most everything was seafood. Fish is usually the last thing I will ever crave but trying to be open to the food experience I allowed fish to be included in my Obento. The fish wasn't so bad.

Below is a pic of the Obento I made for Neil. The broccoli is in view as well as the Onigiri (Japanese rice ball but the one below is shaped as a triangle) and edamame.