Current mood:	mmm...bento
Entry tags:	food

All over plastic lunch boxes
Every time I think I've seen it all, I see something new and stranger.

Over on bentolunch ss_biggie makes a post about how one of their members, thejenn1, has been selling bento lunch boxes from her website bentoyum. The fact that she is both a small business owner and writing articles about her viral marketing makes her...something. I don't know what. This sends the community into an uproar of scandal as people are not happy that she didn't tell them she was in business to make money.

thejenn1 posts in her defense and it snowballs from there. Sockpuppeting accusations, social experiments, just JELUS, and general outrage over if her being a business even makes a difference.

Sit back, pull up some sushi. Kinda small, but tasty, lulz.

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	grrliz 2007-06-23 01:54 am UTC (link)
	So, having never heard of a bento box before... they're basically pretty tupperware and cupcake wrappers designed to hold tiny amounts of finger foods? I feel like they're designed for Lilliputians. (Reply to this)(Thread)

scarah2
2007-06-23 02:35 am UTC (link)

This is my first experience with the term bento in this context.

Where I live bento is common and well advertised, but it means something more along the lines of:

"A takeout lunch option, which includes teriyaki and possibly sushi. There is also the likelihood of some form of slaw. These are all packaged in disposable containers for your lunching convenience."

Don't get me wrong, I am drastically in favor of the reusable bento containers, and they are cute. However, the food inside has nothing to do with what I associate with "bento" type foods.

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	grrliz 2007-06-23 02:38 am UTC (link)
	I wikipedia-ed "bento" and was presented with pictures of the kinds of boxes they have at the sushi place across the street at work when you order some sort of tempura feast at lunch. Although I understand the appeal of these boxes, since it means none of my food touches and that suits me just fine. (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

	scarah2 2007-06-23 02:40 am UTC (link)
	Yeah, can anyone translate the actual word "bento?" I wouldn't be surprised if it meant something like "compartmented." (Reply to this)(Parent)(Thread)

miraba
2007-06-23 04:35 am UTC (link)

According to my boyfriend and his kanji dictionary:

The kanji is 弁当, but that always confused me, because the only other use of 弁 I knew meant "dialect". Turns out 弁 as "dialect" is a simplification of 辯. However in 弁当 the 弁 is a simplification of 辯 which means "discriminate" or "distinguish". So I guess it means something like "put separately".

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	scarah2 2007-06-23 07:18 am UTC (link)
	That's pretty close! (Reply to this)(Parent)

amberwaves
2007-06-23 02:46 am UTC (link)

Bento is pretty much an encapsulation of the Japanese mindset-- even the most practical of items (food) must be aesthetically appealing, logically approached, and efficiently enacted. With bento, you are striving for a balance of colors, flavors, textures, and nutrition. You're trying to make it feed the eye as well as the mouth.

As a Western person, I love bento not only because it's cute and pretty, but because it helps with portion control, and having gone to all that work makes me less likely to run out for McDonald's when I get peckish. Plus, it's a pretty harmless and reasonably inexpensive hobby, considering some that people have :)

I'm a member of

bentolunch and I do not get the uproar over all this. [shakes head]

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mydemand
2007-06-30 03:48 am UTC (link)

"Bento" basically just means "lunchbox", but in Japan they have a style to making them. When I was in Japan, my host families would regularly make me (and my crew) bento lunches. They're basically lunch boxes with all sorts of food arranged decoratively (hence the funky coloured eggs and such). you could have pretty much anything you wanted, though the general idea is finger food or pieces that don't need a lot of fiddling (like soup, which would be tricky). Quite yum no matter what goes in the bento :)

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