Calling a bento a "lunch box" doesn't do it justice. It is a lunch box in the sense that sometimes it comes in the shape of a box (and sometimes not), it often has the picture of a cultural icon on the lid (My Little Pony, Ultra-man, He-Man, Hamutaro, and Mr. T. come immediately to mind), and it contains a lunch inside. However, lunch boxes are typically comparatively massive, rectangular in shape, and have a hinged door that clasps tightly shut by two levered latches, located next to the handle of the lunch box. Examples of typical contents found in a lunch boxes include a thermos (usually full of milk or soup), a sandwich, some vegetable sticks, a bag of chips or cookies, a box of juice, and a stick of string cheese. It is also interesting to note that most people stop using lunch boxes after leaving elementary school and switch to the brown paper bag as the vessel of choice for their midday meals. I fondly remember my lunch box, but its contents were always predictable and partly pre-packaged. Opening a bento is more of a mini-adventure.
If you are lucky there may be treasures under the lid of the bento bako, just waiting for you to uncover them at lunch time. Geisha Asobi has some interesting glimpses Japanese culture, including a link to some few highly stylized bento designs. As for a bento that emphasizes equality in form and function, I like these bento made by Mizuko Ito, who examines the question "Are bento an artistic form of motherly love, or are they just another oppresive tool used to shape Japanese society?". Anyhow, you may notice that these bento pictures have been snapped from a cellular phone camera (she also studies the effects that cellphones have on society- pretty interesting stuff), like the ones on Justin's moblog, or the smaller pictures that I was posting up until the demise of the camera on my D251.
This is diverging from the bento theme of this post but still related, in the sense that if your bento contained some undercooked meat or fish you might grow a 28 foot-long friend in your intestines.
Comments (5)
I read Mizuko Ito's site on the politics of bentos and smiled. Remember all those nigiris and cute bentos I tried to make for you? It was okay in pre-school, but elementary school was the cut-off point, even in private school. Peer pressure is cruel at times and all of you kids finally rebelled at the (envious? ignorant?)teasing comments you got for opening the lid of your bento bako to reveal little flower-petal cutouts of carrots and kamaboko, bear nigiri with furikake, diagonally cut shoyu-fried wienies (hey, anything you'd eat, I'd make!) and wee veggies...all spoiled because kids made fun of your lunches, right? It starts early, the school yard politics of being acceptably the same in what kind of lunches you bring, sneakers you wear, etc, or you risk being a target of ridicule!
Posted by: yomama | March 26, 2004 12:10 AM
Posted on: March 26, 2004 00:10
Are you saying you can actually *purchase* bento lunches that look like the elaborate ones in the photos? That'd be crazy-cool! I don't know if I'd eat them much, as I remember what Japanese-style hotdogs, etc., taste like. But if they came with a free toy, I'd probably buy it anyways, and just admire it from afar.
Mom did make the best-tasting lunches for us growing up, though. And my vote for favorite lunch box ever has to be my old Strawberry Shortcake box from kindergarten.
Posted by: hecallsmeakim | March 26, 2004 7:00 AM
Posted on: March 26, 2004 07:00
My He-Man would kick Strawberry Shortcake's ass.
Actually, my most vivid lunchbox memory is when this black kid called Tyrone beat up this little nerdy white kid for pointing out that the smurfs on his lunch box represented black people in the cartoon world.
Posted by: J | March 26, 2004 2:24 PM
Posted on: March 26, 2004 14:24
Nah, you can't purchase bento that are as cool as the ones in the pictures (as far as I know, but then again I live in the middle of nowhere). Bento from konbini (convenience stores) are generally to be avoided, but I have had some pretty good ones made by bento shops, just not as ornate or customized.
Posted by: Adam | March 26, 2004 3:21 PM
Posted on: March 26, 2004 15:21
You scare me with the "My Little Pony" right out of the gate. I mean, I have sister's too, but come on now! You could have at least thrown in the "My Little Pony" in the middle. I don't quite remember all my different lunch boxes. Strangest thing...all that I remember is yellow, red and green with blue. I think that the latter was Star Wars, but for the life of me, I really don't remember who was on the box. A picture of Chewy comes to mind though..."yum, yum, puchaka, yum, yum."
Posted by: Scuba Steve | March 29, 2004 1:31 PM
Posted on: March 29, 2004 13:31