Bento is a traditional Japanese lunchbox. In its origin, the idea was to create a healthy, well-balanced meal that could endure long periods of time and extreme weather. Staples in bento typically include rice, seaweed, fried egg (tamago-yaki), and vegetables.
Recently, bento has become an art form. Japanese moms will spend hours making a cute, colorful lunch for their kids, shaping food to form characters. These bento are called kyaraben— "character bento."
Pacman— Rice, Japanese fried egg, tonkatsu, carrot, ham, lettuce, hard boiled egg, seaweed, red kamaboko (fish cake), pickles, orange, strawberries, o-nishime.
Panda— Rice, seaweed, ham, hard boiled egg, tangerine, cucumber, Japanese fried egg, carrot, kamaboko.
Caroling penguins— Rice, seaweed, carrot, red and green kamaboko, Japanese fried egg, radish, carrot, lettuce, blueberries, homemade sweet mochi, white chocolate chip.
いただきあす！
