Monday, March 21, 2011

Request from Zillafan for Bento boxes (i hope this is what you wanted!)

I am a huge fan of Japanese culture. And I've always wanted a Bento Box so I can make some creative lunch ideas.
For those that don't know what Bento is,  Bento's are Japanese lunch boxes, which are prepared for school or picnic. It often contains rice and many other things like sausages, eggs, vegetables and fish.
To me Bento's can be a form of food artistry. If I could afford a Bento Box, I'd assume it would look like one of these:


Cute aren't they??
You when you open them, there are compartments you can fill with food. It's pretty much up to you what you can put in them. I'd go healthy of course, with maybe a little side dessert!
Here's some examples of what some Bento's can look like:






A lot of people make rice molds that are totally cute! You can get these:
All you do is fill them with rice and press them firmly and out pops a cute rice bear, star, or whatever shape you have chosen. If you want to season the rice, or make features more apparent, use this stuff:

or 



A lot of times Bento boxes come with small bottles you can put condiments in, like soy sauce, mayo, ketchup, wasabi, or whatever you like :)

If you want to make those adorable egg molds it's easy!
Get these:


I know they look cute now, but how about when you can make an egg look like this:


or 


It's cute!
Bento's may seem a little tedious to some of you, but imagine the look on your child's face or significant other's face, when they see this bit of artsy cuteness you've created.

Another idea you can use, is to make sandwiches and use these cute Bento cutters to make shapes:


or 


And you can make stuff like this:



So many possibilities!
You can totally nuts and make stuff like this:


I know if I was making a Bento, it'd include the little rice sculptures, egg molds, or fresh cut veggies. I'd probably make my own fried rice, or noodles with soy sauce and sauteed vegetables. There are so many possibilities. Just look at the creative pictures posted above!!

Sorry Zilla, I don't have any specific recipes, because, well I can't afford a Bento box, but if I could, I'd definately fill it with some of the yummies I've seen on these pics!





1 comment:

  1. You can make a bento out of just about anything! I make snack bentos for my little one's out of plain square tupperware all the time. You can get creative by using muffin tins and different dividers, or even use food as the dividers. Here's a picture of one I made for my little guys
    http://www.flickr.com/photos/poisoncupcakes/3382476127/in/photostream/

    http://www.flickr.com/photos/poisoncupcakes/3388572501/

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