What is Bento?

In a nutshell - it is a meal in a box.

Hailing from the realm of Japanese cuisine, the bento is traditionally a box-shaped container with a meal of rice, vegetables and meat or fish.

They can be purchased at convenience stores all over Japan as 'ready to eat' lunch boxes.  They can be served at restaurants.  They can be made at home.  The containers can be disposable, beautiful lacquer-ware, plastic, simple, artfully decorated or plain.  The food itself can be just as varied.

Bento can be as simple or elaborate as you please!

I'm sure when people initially start to research what bento is all about, it can be quite intimidating to see the stunning art work and design that goes into some of them.

Trust me.  They don't have to be that way.  I'm not terribly artistic and I won't be creating masterpieces any time soon!  There's nothing wrong with a simple, functional bento!

A perfectly simple bento - as demonstrated by Little Japan Mama

Doesn't that look tasty?

It's elegant in its simplicity.

With so many examples of the artistic side of bento, it's so hard to pick just one ...

Behold the cuteness! An adorable panda theme.

Some bento look far too beautiful to eat!  You can imagine someone spending hours, painstakingly crafting cute scenes and favourite characters ... there are even competitions focused on bento art.

Of course, there are ornate presentations such as these in fine Japanese restaurants.

Restaurant style bento - Wikipedia

Even for a very brief overview, it's pretty apparent that bento is very versatile - not only in appearance but in content.

Truly, bento can be whatever you want it be.

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Welcome to Bento Chef!

Welcome to the blog of the Bento Chef!

Join me on my journey of discovering the wonderful world of bento - from the delicious food, to the amazing works of art, and the boxes themselves.

I hope you'll enjoy reading this blog as it develops.

Itadakimasu!

~ Bento Chef ~

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