Bento: more a lifestyle than a lunchbox
Bento boxes are creeping into all kinds of places: pre-schoolers carry them, trendy young things in the media swipe noodles from them with flying chopsticks and those with long-term health conditions use them to ensure a balanced diet.
What is bento?
Basically a bento is a cold lunchbox, Japanese style. Usually made of wood or plastic, the box will have several compartments and traditionally contains sushi, vegetables and rice. Bento boxes have featured in many anime and manga books, causing a surge of interest in the West. Charaben are bento lunches made in the shape of anime or other characters – they are fiendishly hard to produce and those who make them are highly competitive about their art. Most bento boxes have two tiers, one of which is wholly, or largely, filled with rice or some other grain.
