Bento: What is It?

Bento is a commonly seen single serving meal that is packed at home or bought as take out to take on the go. Bento originated in Japan, but has become a widespread solution for daily lunch packing in the United States in recent years, most commonly among parents looking for a creative lunch idea for their children's school lunches.

Bento boxes can be purchased in a variety of materials with different characters on them for decoration, one of the most common bento boxes being Hello Kitty in the United States. They can be made of metal, plastic or the more traditional Japanese style of wood. Bento boxes range in prices from a few bucks up to quite a good amount of money depending on the material they are made of and how elaborately they are designed. Cheap plastic bento boxes are often used to pack children's school lunches and often parents have more than one at home so they can change up the look for the child.

Part of the fun of using bento for your meals on the go is the creativity involved in preparing the food that is inside. One of the more traditional foods found in many bento boxes is onigiri or omusubi as it is commonly called. Onigiri is simply rice formed into triangle or oval shapes and wrapped in nori (seaweed). Traditionally a pickled filling of some sort is inserted in the middle which is thought to preserve the rice while in the bento.

Bento is made to be packed with out the need of icepacks to keep the food chilled or without needing a microwave to heat the food. Bentos are eaten at room temperature which is why certain foods are recommended for them and others aren't. In Japan pickled fruits and vegetables, rice or noodles and some type of fish or meat are most commonly found. In the United States many people use leftovers from the previous night's meal or include various other foods cut and prepared in an artistic way. Preparing bentos has become a hobby for a lot of enthusiasts or utilized by many parents as a way to get their children to eat healthier.