The Aesthetics of the Japanese Bento Box
It was just a week ago when I last had my meal at McDonald 's, eating my food without even thinking about the way it was sloppily presented at me, with my ice cream sundae dripping off the sides of the cup. Without much care about the way my food looks, I was just like everyone else in my table, very hurriedly taking my sandwich, and once in awhile criticizing the way the food tastes ("ang alat ng fries ngayon a").
This is such a stark contrast to the way food is appreciated outside urban areas, and most specially in traditional Asian cultures such as Japan. The Japanese in fact have developed a high degree of sophistication in the appreciation of food, drinks, and other seemingly negligible areas in food preparation such as packaging. Consider for instance their bento meal, which among the Japanese means packed lunch in wooden containers with dividers. It is obvious to anyone who has tried these boxes that food is understood not only as something to take to satisfy the palate or the stomach, but also as something to please the eye. Thus the bento not only varies in type but also in the way it is designed. One can see vegetables in shapes of flowers, rice made like a tiny person, complete with eyes and lips, and something as simple as a hard-boiled egg shaped creatively in different shapes and patterns. Modern bento boxes may even be a more of a thrill to the younger ones, as the food is often shaped into different characters (kyaraben) familiar to them such as Hello Kitty. In fact, to many an outsider to this culture, the boxes appear to be even more important than the food they contain.
But what indeed is the traditional meaning of bento? Bento, in Japanese tradition, is a packed lunch usually taken to work and school by both adults and children. The box consists of nutritious meals and is usually divided into two: one part for rice and the other for accompanying dishes such as vegetables, chicken, meat, or eggs. A traditional well-balanced bento meal
This is such a stark contrast to the way food is appreciated outside urban areas, and most specially in traditional Asian cultures such as Japan. The Japanese in fact have developed a high degree of sophistication in the appreciation of food, drinks, and other seemingly negligible areas in food preparation such as packaging. Consider for instance their bento meal, which among the Japanese means packed lunch in wooden containers with dividers. It is obvious to anyone who has tried these boxes that food is understood not only as something to take to satisfy the palate or the stomach, but also as something to please the eye. Thus the bento not only varies in type but also in the way it is designed. One can see vegetables in shapes of flowers, rice made like a tiny person, complete with eyes and lips, and something as simple as a hard-boiled egg shaped creatively in different shapes and patterns. Modern bento boxes may even be a more of a thrill to the younger ones, as the food is often shaped into different characters (kyaraben) familiar to them such as Hello Kitty. In fact, to many an outsider to this culture, the boxes appear to be even more important than the food they contain.
But what indeed is the traditional meaning of bento? Bento, in Japanese tradition, is a packed lunch usually taken to work and school by both adults and children. The box consists of nutritious meals and is usually divided into two: one part for rice and the other for accompanying dishes such as vegetables, chicken, meat, or eggs. A traditional well-balanced bento meal
Cited: Beittel, Kenneth. Zen and the Art of Pottery. Cincinnati: Weatherhill, Inc., 2000 Bento – Japanese Food Goldstein, Bruce. Sensation and Perception.7th ed. California: Thomson Learning, Inc., 2007 Mercado, Leonardo Yamaguchi, Shiziko and Ninomiya, Kumiko. “Umami and Food Palatability.” The Journal of Nutrition. 130:921S-926S (2000) : 19 pars. 18 Mar. 2008 <http://jn.nutrition.org/cgi/content/full/130/4/921S>