Creating a bento box article

[razz]

I had heard of these but didn't know what they were made of until now.
http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Food/Stir-It-Up/2014/0411/How-to-prepare-a-bento-box-and-matcha-mochi-cupcakes?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Food_Stir_It_Up&utm_campaign=20140411_Newsletter%3AFood_Sailthru&cmpid=ema%3Anws%3AStir%2520It%2520Up%2520Weekly%25 20%2804-11-2014%29

[herbgeek]

We do lots of American style bentos here. I love the boxes with the little compartments. Get lots of jealous looks when on planes. Its a good way to use up leftovers too. Kind of a food sampler.

[happystuff]

Nice article - thanks for posting.

I have a nice square lock 'n lock with four removable insert cups. When I'm being "good", I'll fix myself a nice bento style lunch that I can basically pick at all day (no real lunch hour at work, just eat when able). I do need more creative ideas on what to put in it besides the various cut up veggies. lol.

[peggy]

The bentos in Japan always had rice and some pickled vegs. Other things would change but those two were always there.

[Float On]

I watched a trailer for the movie, The Lunchbox, the other day. Really liked the stacking system of the lunch box (about thermos size and round tins - I guess to keep the rice or noodles separate from curry meats and veggies etc).

[happystuff]

I watched a trailer for the movie, The Lunchbox, the other day. Really liked the stacking system of the lunch box (about thermos size and round tins - I guess to keep the rice or noodles separate from curry meats and veggies etc).

I've seen those on different shows on tv and always wondered if hot contents stayed hot enough until lunch time. I love the stacking idea, though.

[Blackdog Lin]

My father lived in the main Nisei (Japanese-American) suburb of Los Angeles, where I spent my childhood summers staying with him. So 75% of his friends (and my ended-up-being-my stepmother) were Nisei, and that's the culture and food I was exposed to every summer. And bento boxes were the bomb. I loved them.

DH and I (later with DS) drove every summer from Kansas to Los Angeles for our vacation for a visit, for many years. And my stepmom always fixed us 2 or 3 bento boxes for our trip back home, the contents always a surprise to us. They were literally boxes, no refrigeration compartments or anything, she'd just fill up 2 or 3 like cake or pastry boxes, the interior food arranged all nicely and the boxes tied up prettily with string. And it became a family joke that I was the only one who couldn't wait till a snack time to get into them - we would barely get onto the freeway before I was untying the bento boxes, to see what was in there!

It was a long time ago, but I remember the bento boxes ALWAYS included rice balls - though we had to train her that people from Kansas simply did not eat rice balls filled with raw fish or covered in seaweed. She learned to make ours plain, with maybe a bit of canned tuna in the center. :) And frequently steamed whole green beans (my favorite), and little piles of pickled cabbage and cucumbers and other veggies, and I remember a killer coated-and-deep-fried beef strip thing that I came to hope for.

Nice memories. Thanks razz.