BASICS
A bento is a Japanese lunch box. It is often square, rectangular, or oval, and generally comes in one or two tiers which can be stacked and secured.
Many bento boxes are secured with an elastic band to keep tiers and/or lids from coming off. Some bentos are carried in a bento bag, a small decorative fabric carrier or wrapped tightly in a furoshiki (decorative cloth) that can serve as a mini-tablecloth while you eat.
Foods inside the bento are usually kept separate. This can be done using silicone muffin liners, plastic dividers that come with some bento boxes, or using balan, which are decorative plastic or silicone sheets.
DECORATION
Decorative- sometimes highly decorative!- bentos made for children are called charaben. There are lots of ways to make your charaben bento kawaii [cute], including the use of:
- Decorative picks
- Food sculpture
- Tiny decorative forks
- Printed balan
- Character bottles and containers
- Sando (sandwich presses)
- Cookie cutters
- Vegetable cutters
- Hard-boiled egg molds
It can be difficult to locate bento boxes and accessories in the United States, but they can be found online:
FOOD
A traditional bento should contain at least one food of the five basic colors: white, yellow, green, red, and black.
Personally, I cheat a little and assume anything ‘orange’ fills the yellow requirement, and mentally add very dark purple and brown things to the ‘black’ category. For example,
White: Rice, sesame seeds, pasta, wontons, potatoes, chicken, white cheeses, crackers, bread, totillas, turkey
Yellow: Bananas, oranges, carrots, sweet potatoes, yellow cheeses, corn, apricots, pumpkin, star fruit, peaches, eggs
Green: Kiwi fruit, green grapes, edamame, sugar snap peas, lettuce, cuucmbers, pears, bok choy, asparagus
Red: Strawberries, tomatoes, tuna, salmon, crab sticks, watermelon, apples, red peppers, ham, grapefruit
Black: Blackberries, nori, black sesame seeds, black grapes, blueberries, japanese sweet potatoes, beef, raisins
Frozen fruit can be very helpful in filling up an otherwise colorless bento; frozen peach slices and strawberries, for instance, can be placed in a cup in an unrefrigerated bento in the morning and be perfectly thawed by lunch.
WEIGHT LOSS
Using a small bento for lunch- and even dinner- can fill all your diet needs. Something about having a beautiful and varied lunch seems to distract me from quantity, and has always helped me maintain my own weight.
Personally, I like to fill my bento with 1/3 protein and carbs (like chicken and rice), 1/3 vegetables, and 1/3 fruit, with a single piece of very dark chocolate (82% or darker). Something about really dark chocolate seems much more satisfying- though I admit, it took me a while to get used to it!
Bento boxes come in many sizes, but I use only kid-sized ones of 500 mL or less for my lunches. It seems shockingly small when you first start using them, but it’s amazing how soon your stomach gets used to it (and how astoundingly large restaurant portions seem after you do!).
