Just Bento - a healthy meal in a box: great bento recipes, tips, and more

Packing a nutritionally dense bento box for the active person

maki — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 10:01:12 +0000

This health-conscious guest post is by Debra of the fabulous hapa bento. We are entering the heavy duty feasting season now, so now is a good a time as ever to use nutritional bentos to keep yourself going!

The classic bento box with its proportioned rice, protein and vegetable combination is a balance of taste, harmony of flavors, and prepared to keep spoilage to a minimum. Another dimension of this classic lunch is nutrition. The rice provides carbohydrates, and carbs are arguably the most important source of energy. The protein keeps your muscles in repair, vegetables offer crucial vitamins that nourish your organs, and lastly but just as vital, some fats. More about the value of fats a little later. A bento box lunch is designed to offer sustenance.

But what if you need more? What if you are an active person and need to turn it up a notch? Well, a nutritionally dense bento box may be your answer.

Tweaking your bento box by packing nutritionally intense foods is an important enhancement for people who exercise or train on a regular basis. More “bang for your buck” as the saying goes.

My husband “Saba Man”, nicknamed for his love of mackerel, and I have enjoyed participating in the local events in the past. We took a break but now we’re back in training for a sprint distance triathlon. Needless to say we are always hungry and crave the foods that offer optimal health benefits! Here’s how I boosted our bento box lunches in support of achieving our goals.

Carbs

The first change for raising the bento box “bar”, was to simply switch from white rice to brown. We like brown rice, but if you don’t, then try mixing half and half at first then slowly eliminate the white grains with each batch. Work your way up to an onigiri that’s 100% brown. Brown rice provides fiber as well as the energy that fuels our muscles. For heavy workout days, 2 onigiri or musubi as I call them, are de rigueur. And by wrapping rice up in a sheet of nori, we’ve enhanced it with essential amino acids and Vitamin C. Never be afraid to eat more seaweed!

When I’m not in the mood for rice, I like packing sweet potatoes which are also high on the nourishment scale. Better than regular potatoes, some sources rank it as number one! The wonderful sweet potato — they taste fantastic. I keep their skins on whenever possible for additional vitamins. It’s important to mention that I usually roast the potato. Roasting or baking lessens the leaching of vitamins and nutrients.

Protein

Do you like tamagoyaki? Perfect. Eggs are filled with healthy goodness, high quality protein without the high calories. Convenient too. When time is a factor, I can cook a batch of tamagoyaki or hard boil a dozen eggs and save them for couple of days. Maki has a wonderful recipe for making miso marinated boiled eggs. The miso not only adds a delicious touch of savory flavor but again, more nutrients. Saba Man’s bento box lunches almost always feature both an egg along and another protein such as salmon or tuna mini burgers.

We opt for salmon because of the Omega 3 oils that other animal meats do not provide. And the salmon skin furnishes more of the essential fats. If fish is not your thing, then substitute with homemade chicken or turkey burgers and add flax seeds. I sometimes go ahead and add flax seeds to the tuna burgers too. It’s a good thing.

Being that I am vegetarian, my bento box contains neither fish nor chicken. My lunches are filled with chick peas (garbanzo beans), falafel or “wheat meat” (seitan) along with eggs. My intake of Omega 3 is via steel cut oatmeal cooked with ground flax seeds. This is the standard in my breakfast bento box; a very healthy start to the day and it keeps me going until lunch.

Vegetables and Fruit

Both of us love our veggies and the “go to” greenery is broccoli. Hands down, it’s the most versatile, delicious and highly nutritious vegetable. Again, roasting is preferable with olive oil and seasonings. Broccoli is ranked very high on the “wholesome scale” and I recommend them not only for their health values but for ease in preparation and packing. I also suggest the very healthy brussel sprout. And as we recently discovered, roasted brussel sprouts taste pretty good.

I want to stress that vegetables are essential but do not take up the majority of space inside our box. This is because they are low in calories. Nutritious calories are needed to fuel our workout, but a disproportionate amount of veggies with their lowered energy value, will not sustain us through the day and especially not when training. We have noticed that when I pack too many vegetables and fruits, our workouts lack quality and endurance.

Speaking of fruits — they offer valuable benefits too and do occasionally appear in some of our bento boxes. However, leaving out the bits of fruit and instead filing the void with more protein works better for us. I now stuff a whole fruit in our bags for any emergency ìpick me upî instead. With each bento that I pack, I am learning about what works, and what doesn’t. Our bento boxes are evolving, especially now that we are exercising more than usual.

Fats

Let’s talk about fats. The fats and oils are naturally included in our bento ingredients. The fish, eggs, and beans contain all the “good” fats which are important for providing the main fuel source during the long, and low to moderate intensity exercise. Vegetables also contain their own fats. Olive oil, with it’s monounsaturated fats, is used for roasting our vegetables. It’s also good for additional flavoring, but don’t over do it.

Fats and oils are calorie dense; too much fat will, well, make you fat. I do consume extra fats by eating nuts and occasionally tuck in some raw almonds. Eating them raw is far healthier than eating them cooked and they are an essential part of our daily fat intake. Saba Man and I are not athletes, not by the farthest stretch of the imagination, and cannot afford the consumption of vast amounts of calories like marathoners, Iron Man participants or Michael Phelps. So we keep additional fats low.

Bento fillers

The rest of the bento lunch are the fillers and these come in all shapes, flavors and forms. I like red and orange foods such as cherry tomatoes and carrot sticks, not only because of their excellent health benefits, but like all the before mentioned foods, you can enjoy eating without the fuss of utensils. It’s not a crucial factor, but it is (pardon the pun), handy when we are in a rush. No need for chopsticks, forks or picks.

Bentos to go, for a couple on the go

A daily bento box or two, filled with yummy, energy packed items is crucial as we juggle our jobs, training and other daily tasks! Saba Man and I dine “on the go” constantly and a pre-packed healthy meal allows us the freedom to eat when ever and where ever. Sometimes in the car while commuting between work and the workout!

As you can see, my nutritious bento boxes do not stray too far from the traditional concept. A classic bento does lend itself to eating for fitness — all that’s needed for optimization is to choose brown rice over white, roast your veggies and sweet potatoes instead of boiling. Add flax seeds when you can. Use olive oil, but sparingly. And keep all other fats and oils to a minimum. Fruits can be completely eliminated from the bento box. Eggs provide essential nutrients and protein. If you are a vegetarian, the egg is important as well as garbanzo, ìwheat meatî and soy.

Whether you are a weekend warrior, a dedicated marathon runner, or just working out to maintain your fitness, eating a healthy bento box, packed with nutritiously dense foods not only plays a major role in your body’s well being, but also with your own athletic goals.

As a reminder, this article is about my personal needs and habits, and like any other physical program, please consult your physician for guidance before starting your own regimen.

About the author

Debra, author of hapa bento, and her husband currently live outside of Seattle, Washington with their two cats, suitably named Mochi and Musubi. They enjoy traveling, dining out and dancing more than working out, but they somehow squeeze trips to the gym within their busy schedule. Commuting separately because of opposite work schedules is very challenging and having a packed bento box lunch curbs any spontaneous food spending and hunger pangs.

They both grew up in Hawaii and enjoyed a culturally diverse diet where bento boxes were the norm, so it was a natural step to start making them for their daily lunches. With Debra’s renewed sense of a healthy lifestyle, sending her husband off to work with a bento box full of nutritious foods coupled with a variety of ethnic flavors, gives her great satisfaction. Her bento boxes are not only healthy and tasty, but also express and celebrate their combined Hawaiian, Chinese, Korean, Filipino, African American and European heritages!

Book review and giveaway: The Manga Cookbook

maki — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:29:56 +0000

The Manga Cookbook has been out for a while, but I have a copy to give away courtesy of the publisher, so here’s a short review. While this is not a bento cookbook, it has a few bento-friendly recipes in it. Besides, the cute manga format will probably appeal to many Just Bento readers (which is why this review is here on Just Bento rather than on Just Hungry).

This is a little paperback, with several easy Japanese recipes in manga format. (Just in case you don’t know, manga are Japanese comics. Wait a second…if you’re reading this site, how could you not know manga!?! ^_^) Instructional mangas are quite common in Japan, but I don’t know of any in English besides this one (though I bet someone will tell me there are many more). The recipes are introduced by a cute manga girl and a rather hyper animal character that is supposed to be a fox, which looks rather like it belongs in the Pikachu world. The manga, and the recipes, look to be written in English rather than translated from Japanese. If they are translated, they’ve done a really good job of it. In addition, the book reads from left to right rather than the more usual (for Japanese manga) right to left.

As for the recipes, provided you can get a hold of the ingredients (and they do not stray too far from the basics like rice, soy sauce, and so on), anyone should be able to make all of them easily, even kids (with adult supervision in some cases). There are color and black and white photographs of the recipes to refer to, besides the manga instruction. Most of the recipes are standard-issue Japanese classics, like onigiri, ebifurai (breaded fried shrimp), kushi dango (sweet rice dumplings on a stick) and so on. A couple are not exactly standard, but that doesn’t mean they don’t belong in the book. All of the recipes are of the type that appeal to kids - or at least, Japanese kids. No strongly flavored or strange ‘adult’ food here. For the charaben enthusiast there are nice manga step-by-steps for making things like usagi ringo (apple bunnies) and boiled eggs with faces on them.

The only major quibble I have with this book is that about 24 pages out of the stated 144 total are essentially blank! These have a photocopy-like image of a page ripped out of a notebook that say “Cook’s Notes” on top. I’ve seen this in other cookbooks too, but not for so many pages proportionate to the overall page count. I can’t help but wonder if they somehow ran out of money or something and couldn’t afford to fill up the rest of the book with more recipes and manga. Another, lesser quibble is that the photographs are not of very good quality. But I think that this little book is still a good value though (around $11 from Amazon.com). It would make a great present for a child or teenager who is into manga or anime and is curious about the ‘weird’ Japanese food that he or she sees in them, or an adult who wants a friendly introduction to some Japanese home cooking recipes.

Book details

The Manga Cookbook
Authors: The Manga University Culinary Institute and Chihiro Hattori
Publisher: Japanime Co. Ltd.
Amazon.com link; Amazon UK link; Amazon DE link

The giveaway rules

All you have to do to enter the giveaway is to leave a comment on this post. As always, to make it more interesting, let us know the one Japanese dish that you haven’t made yet that you are most curious about trying to make.

The deadline for leaving your comment/entry is 23:59:59 CET on Sunday, November 22nd. I’ll try to get the book to you before Christmas.

Fun with sweet mochi and fruit "sushi"

maki — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 19:32:14 +0000

To start off the weekend, here is a fun guest post from Jen of Tiny Urban Kitchen, about making sushi that is not exactly what it seems to be!

This is not what you might think it is. Yes, it looks like sushi - almost too similar. But guess what? It’s mochi! It’s mochi with various fruit pieces posing as fish. Mochi is surprisingly easy to make. You can actually make this dessert with kids, it’s so easy and fun. The nigiri are especially easy - just cut up various fruits into squares to put on top. Rolls are a bit trickier, but not impossible. For the rolls, I used soy wrappers (see tutorial below).

Basic Mochi Recipe

[note: Sweet mochi made from mochiko or a combination of mochiko and joushinko (rice flour made from medium grain or regular Japonica rice) and used for sweets, is also called gyuuhi. - maki]

3/4 cup / 178ml Mochiko (glutinous rice flour)
3.4 cup / 178ml water
2 to 4 tablespoons sugar Combine the mochiko flour, water, and sugar in a microwave safe container and stir until completely incorporated. I find that 2 tablespoon makes a pretty light mochi, which might be preferable if you plan on adding a sweet filling. If you plan on eating it plain, I would add more sugar. Cover with plastic wrap tightly and microwave for 2-3 minutes. This depends on your microwave strength. Check after 2 minutes to see if it’s done. The previously liquid mixture should be solid now. Typically the plastic wrap will expand while heating (creating a bubble on top of the container) and then it will shrink and become concave once you take it out (due to the rapid cooling air inside the container). I like to use a glass Pyrex container with plastic wrap for microwaving because I know it will retain the moisture inside. I once tried making it with a plastic lid and I think too much moisture was released, resulting in a hard, rubbery mochi.
Nigiri

Once you have microwaved the mochi, scoop out a small lump with a spoon (see bottom left picture above) and dump it into a bowl of corn starch. Use your hands to lightly shape the piece of mochi so it looks like an oval, similar the rice shape of a nigiri sushi. Cut pieces of fruit into rectangles about the size of the fish on top of the sushi. You can use any fruit you want. I used mango (for tamago/egg), strawberry (for maguro/tuna), and blackberries (for some sort of caviar I guess!).You could also use cantaloupe for salmon, honeydew for cucumber, and watermelon for tuna. Be creative! Lay the fruit on top of the mochi, and you are done! If you want, you can lightly sprinkle some sugar on top, but this is totally optional. For fun, you can make marzipan wasabi, like I did in this post. Enjoy and serve!

Maki Rolls

Maki rolls are just a bit trickier. It helps if you have some experience making normal sushi rolls. These maki rolls are made with soy wrappers by the company Yamamotoyama. You can either buy a variety pack with various colors (5 sheets), or buy bulk packs (10 sheets of a single color). All soy wrappers are naturally colored, spinach for green and paprika for orange one (and I think beets for pink, but I did not buy the pink one). The small amounts of coloring agents do not affect the flavor. I bought my soy wrappers online at asianfoodgrocer.com which actually has a pretty good price for the bulk packs (unfortunately they do not carry the variety pack, but you can get that on Amazon.com). [Note: In the UK/Europe you can order these from Japan Centre. As far as I know though, Yamamotoyama doesn’t sell these in Japan. - maki]

The soy wrappers have a very mild hint of soy flavor. I would recommend using a strongly flavored filling to mask any hint of the soy aroma if it bothers you. The wrappers do lose this aroma over time. I noticed that I did not smell the soy flavor in the rolls the next day. Make mochi according to the microwave recipe above. Now, instead of taking out small chunks like we did for the nigiri, try to lift the entire sheet with a spatula and gently lay it down on a soy wrapper. I divided the sheet I had made into two pieces so I could lay it across the soy wrapper. Fill with your filling of choice. In this case, I used some leftover sweetened mung beans from mung bean soup I had made. You can also use fruit (see pictures below using mango), red bean paste, black sesame paste, or crushed peanuts. Roll as you would normal sushi. With the soy wrappers, you need to use a bit of water to seal the roll. Slice with a wet knife and serve! I used the end pieces to make the stand up maki pieces with the blackberry on top. These taste the best when they are freshly made. I tried refrigerating them, but they become a bit harder and lose that nice, chewy texture. Enjoy!

About the author

Jen, the author of Tiny Urban Kitchen, lives in a tiny urban condo in Cambridge, Massachusetts, right across the river from Boston. A chemist by training, Jen applies her love of experimentation to the kitchen, which she details in her blog. Jen also loves photography, traveling, and eating out. As a result, Jen also writes reviews on restaurants, mostly in the Boston area but also around the world, complete with plenty of colorful photographs!

Bento: The Magical Bond for Parents and Children

maki — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:25:51 +0000

Two hungry kids tackle their bento lunch (Note: They’re not Linda’s kids, they are related to Maki :)) (Photo: Michiko Ebina)

This is a guest post by Linda Rolle, a Japanese-American mom to twins and co-owner of the online stores True Renu and True Renu International.

When our twins were born, we made all sorts of promises to ourselves about how we’d like to raise them. One of those wishes was to share with them our love and appreciation for good food, as my husband and I both come from a family of chefs and restaurateurs. For example, their first solid foods included miso soup, tofu, edamame and Weißwurst (a mild German veal sausage). To this day, they will choose edamame over chips, and tofu over just about everything.

When they entered preschool, we needed a way to continue feeding them in ways they would enjoy, while still (subtly!) hammering home the concepts of choice - and balance. Bento was the obvious solution. Having to prepare two lunches each weekday while running a business has forced me to be more resourceful, and plan meals more efficiently. But in so doing, I’ve also learned an even greater lesson; that the Bento is far more than a packed lunch. It has become a treasured link between me and my children as well as one of my most rewarding responsibilities as a parent.

How can a little plastic box do so much? By its very design, it invites diversity, proportion, and experimentation. Most of the boxes we own are anti-sandwich by design, instead providing Rubik-esque interior sections that seem impossibly small and unworthy. But when I have to think of at least 3 items to fill a bento, the end result is more fun and healthy. The added benefit for me is daily chances to help each of them discover a new food experience - and they get to do it on their own, without pressure from my husband or me, and without any guilt.

Here are a few ways I’ve tried to make Bento both comforting and new for my twins:

Experiment! I try to put something they’ve never had before into each Bento. I don’t ask them about it, but I do check and see how much of it comes home intact, making a mental note of winners and duds.
I try a food ingredient several ways before giving up. They’ve told me they don’t like mushrooms. But when I minced them and sautÈed them into a meatloaf they disappeared, and when I layered them into a veggie and goat cheese terrine they even gave me props for the recipe!
I try to balance savory, sweet, sour, salty and the luscious umami.
I try not to project my own taste prejudices on to my children. Too often I’ve had to stop myself saying, “Oh, you won’t like that” and let them go for it. If I had censored their tasting options for them, they wouldn’t be enjoying shichimi pepper in their udon, or anchovies on their pizza!
I’ve made a big effort to lay off the salt and sugar. Instead, we spent a small fortune on a high quality sea salt. We add it to cold edamame or cucumber, and flavor skyrockets with much less sodium.
I view Bento as my friend. By observing what comes home inside, Bento is teaching me about my children - without arguments or judgment. I like to think Bento helps my kids communicate with me, and vice versa.

Some of the food discoveries Kimi and Sebi have made through Bento include crab sticks and cucumber salads, kamaboko, shumai, and water chestnuts.

And there’s one more thing. Since they entered a Japanese preschool this year, I noticed Bento coming home empty more and more. I finally figured out why. Each day before lunch, the children sing a song, a celebration of “O Bento” and all of the happiness it brings. In this way, they are learning that food - and Bento - is a special gift. After an introduction like that every day, it’s no wonder they enjoy more of what’s inside it!

About the author

Linda Rolle is a Japanese American mother of twins, who co-owns True Renu and Tru Renu International, online purveyors of Japanese bath and beauty products. She grew up with bento, prepares Japanese inspired meals as often as possible. Now that her children are in a Japanese preschool, she enjoys the challenge of putting together two bento lunches each weekday by combining food from both cultures. Kimiko and Sebastian offer her honest feedback, as only children can.

What is a bento anyway, redux: It's not just about cute charaben

maki — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:06:10 +0000

A regular family outing bento (photo by Michiko Ebina)

(Note: This is in part a belated response to the New York Times blog post about bento boxes that appeared in September. I had started it some weeks ago but didn’t have the time to finish, until now. Please also read the very thoughtful forum discussion about the post.)

The New York Times blog post about Beauty and the Bento Box was, after the recent balanced article about bento boxes that appeared in the same publication, was rather disappointing. To see yet another piece in the mainstream media focusing just on the aesthetics of bentos, and specifically on charaben, gives me a “What, again?” sort of resigned feeling. The question that they posed to a group of experts (only one of whom is Japanese…I wonder how many have even had a homemade bento for lunch?) was a leading question if there ever was one: “What does the care devoted to the visual details in a packed lunch suggest about the culture? Why is such value placed on aesthetics in everyday life in Japan?”.

I’ve repeated this many times on this site already, but the basic definition of a bento box is “a meal in a box”, as the subtitle of this site says. Bentos can be for any meal. They can be made by and for anyone. They are often portable, but not always (as for bento box lunches served at sit-down restaurants). In short, bentos are just part of everyday life for most Japanese people. Charaben are just one category of bentos.

A more realistic view of charaben in Japan

In Japan, cute charaben are ostensibly made to overcome the eating habits of small preschool or kindergarten aged children. At least, that is the reason given by many charaben bloggers and book authors as to why they started making charaben.

However, charaben has evolved to the point where it is now a hobby and an industry. I liken it to any other creative hobby, like knitting or crochet or painting. It may be food for kids, but it exists just as much, if not more, as a creative outlet for their moms (and the occasional dad). Kids are not the ones buying up nori punches and egg molds and Rirakkuma shaped onigiri shapers; it’s their moms. There are charaben contests on a national scale, often sponsored by makers of charaben goods (such as Sanyo) or bento-related foods (such as Ajinomoto, who also pay well known charaben bloggers to come up with cute bentos featuring their frozen shuumai dumplings and such).

The daily opening of the bento box at kindergarten has come to be regarded as a sort of local competition between charaben-creating moms. Recently there’s been a backlash against this - some mothers are complaining that they don’t have the time to make such elaborate cute bentos, and that their kids are made to feel inferior, or teased and even bullied, because of this. As a result, some preschools and kindergartens have started to ban charaben. Some Japanese charaben bloggers have written about how they have had to restrict their creative efforts to lunches served at home.

Since most elementary/primary schools serve school lunches, mothers are relieved of their bento making duties once their kids are older. Even if the kids still need bentos, as they get older they - especially boys - start to reject charaben, as being childish (kodomoppoi) and embarassing (hazukashii).

My sister’s take on charaben, from a Japanese mom’s point of view

My sister Mayumi, who lives in the Tokyo area, is the mother of two kids. They are both in elementary school now, but when they were in kindergarten she made bentos for them every day. She said that she just avoided the charaben ‘senso’ (wars) by not making charabens at all, since she didn’t have the time or inclination. Her children fortunately didn’t get teased or anything for their not-cute ‘plain’ bentos. But she says it was a relief in many ways when her youngest graduated from kindergarten. She, and the kids, love school lunch.

Mayumi also related the competitiveness of charaben to the peculiar Japanese social phenomenon called “Playground Debut”. When you are in a new neighborhood, your child’s first appearance at the local playground (or debut) is a very big deal. If you as the parent, and your kids, do not get accepted by the existing clique there, you are doomed to playing on your own, or seeking out another playground. Japanese society can be very stressful and competitive for kids and their mothers. (I found this article on Salon from 1999 that conveys this kind of competitive and stressful situation quite well, from an expatriate American mother’s point of view.)

Looking at the current bento book bestsellers in Japan

A breakdown of the of the 50 bestselling bento books on Amazon Japan as of this writing, might provide a snapshot of the state of the interest in bentos in Japan:

14 books about everyday bentos for everyone
8 books about make-ahead bento recipes, freezing, speedy bento (under 10-15 minutes in the morning), etc.
8 books about charaben techniques
7 books about vegetarian/vegan/macrobiotic or weight loss bentos
6 books about everyday bentos for kids (mainly kindergarten and nursery school age)
4 bento essay books - ones that extol the virtues of homemade bentos (the topselling bento book fits in this category)
3 books about bento for (and made by) men

Unfortunately, since charaben are so visually striking, most of the attention paid to bentos from outside Japan focuses on this small segment, and, like the New York Times blog post, tries to draw some conclusions about Japanese society in general from that.

It’s understandable that this happens. It’s still rather frustrating though, and it’s not really the whole picture at all.

It’s interesting to see that books extolling the virtues of homemade bentos are amongst the top sellers in this category. As in most societies, more and more people in Japan are eating fast food, especially from the ubiquitous konbini or convenience stores, which stock every kind of grab-and-eat food that you can think of, including readymade bentos. Those readymade bentos are often not that healthy, filled with lots of cheap carbohydrates and deep fried food.

My take on charaben and bentos in general

I admire the creativity of skilled charaben artists. I am not that skilled, but I dabble a little in decorated bentos myself. However, I don’t think that charaben are something anyone can make every day. Even the most dedicated charaben-oriented mothers in Japan don’t.

I do believe that a little time taken to make sure a bento box is attractively presented is a great thing. What can be possibly wrong about food that looks as appetizing as it tastes, that is pretty as well as being nutritious. Whenever there’s some mainstream media thing about bentos, you can be sure there will be a few snarky comments along the lines of “a peanut butter sandwich was good enough for my parents and good enough for me, and it’s good enough for my kids” or “spending so much time on food is unnatural/sacriligeous/spoiling your kids/un-American” et al. As much as I think charaben all the time is unrealistic, I don’t get this ‘food must look plain’ thing either. (I wonder if those people who object to pretty lunches also reject decorated birthday cakes, and cupcakes with colored icing?)

There is a long tradition in Japanese cuisine of making food that looks beautiful. The highest form of Japanese cuisine is so beautifully presented that it has inspired chefs around the world. That sense of aesthetics does trickle down to everyday home cooking. But most people don’t make it into a hobby.

I’d like to close with a translated quote from a bento book written back in 1998, by one of my favorite food writers, Katsuyo Kobayashi (see footnote). The book is called Katsuyo Kobayashi’s “Obento’s Decided!”. (kobayashi katsuyo no obento kimatta!), a book that is still in print 11 years later, and in the top 50 bestselling bento book list mentioned above. (My copy is from the 22nd printing in 2006.) Here is what she writes in the foreword:

I am really not fond of obentos that are overly decorated. An obento is one of the three daily meals. It’s just an everyday lunch on the go. In other words, instead of eating lunch at home, we bring it to school, to work, or on an outing. Rather than sausages cut to look like an octopus, or onigiri made to look like people’s faces, I want to honor the beauty and deliciousness of food that Nature has given us - the yellow of tamagoyaki, the green of spinach, pink salmon, the earth tones of gobo [burdock root], the pure white of rice.

While I’m not totally adverse to purposely made bento decorations as Mrs. Kobayashi is (I do have a soft spot for the occasional sausage decoration or cutely cut out sandwich), I do agree with her general philosophy. While Just Bento is about many kinds of bentos, including charaben, my main focus is always on bentos that taste good and are on the healthy side, and look naturally appetizing. If I add extra decorations to my bentos, I don’t spend more than 5 minutes, 10 at the most, on them, unless it’s for a special occasion. It’s striking a middle ground between a plain sandwich thrown into a brown paper bag, and an astonishing charaben creation that takes hours to assemble.

Or in other words, I’m just trying to spread the good word about everyday bentos.

Footnote: The Kobayashi family, from mother to son

I’ve read that Mrs. Kobayashi (who in her heyday was everywhere in the food world - on TV, in magazines, churning out several books a year) is not that well anymore, which is a real shame. However, her son Kentaro has been a TV, magazine and cookbook star for some years now too. Some of his books have appeared in translated English this year, including one about bentos called Bento Love. I haven’t had a chance to look at this book yet, mainly because it sounds suspiciously like a book of his that I have already, but I did notice that Pikko of Adventures in Bentomaking recently made a boiled salmon recipe from it. Boiled salmon sounded rather familiar - and it’s not a usual way to cook salmon in Japan. Sure enough, there’s a recipe for Boiled Salmon in his mother’s bento book! Not only that, she has a recipe for fried chicken in there called Kentaro Fried Chicken (KFC!). I love this mother-son connection.

(Incidentally, Pikko mentioned that her salmon was rather bland. If you do have that book, do check for me to see if Kentaro specifies the use of salted salmon. His mom’s recipe does, and I think it would make all the difference. Salted salmon is a very common ingredient in Japan, but outside of it it’s expensive if you can find it. Here’s my method for making your own.)

Bento side: 3-minute omelette

maki — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 21:27:27 +0000

Well, I have finally delivered the first draft of my bento cookbook. There is still a lot of work to be done before the book will be ready for publication, but I am so relieved to clear this first hurdle at least. I was practically unable to think about any other recipes other than the ones destined to go in there for a long while, but now I can start thinking about new things for the site! (And yes, the book will have all new recipes and bentos, except for some basics. What’s the point of just copying recipes available online here, you know?)

Anyway, here is one of those barely-a-recipe ideas - yet another way to cook an egg. I make this when there is a spot to fill in a bento box, or as a late night snack. It literally comes together in 3 minutes, from breaking the egg to final result. It adds a bright spot of yellow with so little effort. Here I have mixed in some leftover chopped up green onion, but you can put in anything any number of things. I’ve tried furikake, some plain bonito flakes with a little soy sauce, bits of leftover meat or hamburger, canned tuna, mixed frozen vegetables straight from the freezer, and more. You can also leave it plain.

Recipe: 3-minute microwave omelette

1 egg
1 tsp. water
pinch of salt
black pepper
1/2 tsp. softened butter
any additions you want

Put all of the ingredients into a small microwave-safe bowl, and beat with a fork until blended. The butter should be in little flecks throughout the egg. Cover with plastic wrap, and microwave on the HIGH setting for 30 seconds. Take out, and beat up with a fork to break up the cooked parts and mix with the still uncooked parts. Cover and return to the microwave for another 15 seconds. Note: The cooking time may vary slightly depending on your microwave. If it’s still undercooked, return to the microwave and cook a for 10-15 more seconds. Repeat if needed. The final texture should resemble moist scrambled egg.

Turn out onto the plastic wrap that was covering the bowl. (If you used cheap plastic wrap that disintegrates in the microwave, you may need to cut another piece.) Gather up the ends of the plastic wrap and squeeze the egg - it will be very hot, so protect your hands with a kitchen towel or something. Squeeze into a little teardrop/chestnut shape as shown here, or a ball, or anything you like. Open up the plastic wrap and leave to cool.

Use as a bento gap filler, or just eat as a protein-snack.

Thank you (I think), Lord Sandwich

maki — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 17:26:02 +0000

Today, November 3rd, is the birthday of John Montagu, the 4th Earl of Sandwich. He was either an inveterate gambler or a very hard worker; either way, he did not want to step away from his desk or the card table to take the time to eat. So he supposedly commanded his manservant to bring him some sliced meat between 2 slices of bread. Thus, according to legend, the sandwich was invented.

I am skeptical about this, since putting something in between sliced bread seems like such a natural thing to do. Regardless, the sandwich is a wonderful, convenient thing.

To celebrate the Earl’s birthday, today is also National Sandwich Day in the U.S. When I was growing up and living in England, my father used to regale us with tales of the amazing sandwiches available in that mythical land that us kids had yet to visit. “In America, they have sandwiches where the filling is three or four times as thick as the bread”, he’d tell us. My sister and I shook our heads in disbelief. To us, a sandwich was thinly sliced bread, usually with the crusts off, spread with butter and perhaps a little fish paste. Or a layer of thinly sliced cucumbers. Once in a while we might encounter a ham sandwich, with one thin slice of pink ham. These were the types of sandwiches that we encountered whenever we were invited for tea to our friends’ houses. I grew particularly fond of butter-and-Marmite sandwiches, a staple at the weekly teas we partook of at my history teacher’s house after Sunday School. (The teacher had somehow taken it upon herself to take us to Sunday School every week, perhaps under the impression that it was her Christian duty to take care of the little Asian girls. My parents welcomed the opportunity to sleep in on Sundays.)

Once we got to the U.S. when I was 10, we found out that our father hadn’t been lying to us. American Sandwiches! Big club sandwiches filled with juicy pastrami or sliced turkey or ham, the stack so thick that it had to be held together with cocktail sticks decorated with bits of cellophane. And then there was the hamburger. I had never had a hamburger straight off the grill, plopped onto a soft bun and smeared with ketchup, until it was put on my outstretched plastic plate at a school picnic. My initial impressions of America as the land of abundant food, sunny weather (compared to England anyway) and laughing, friendly people, formed during my first few months here (note: I’m writing to you from the suburbs of New York right now) have never faded away completely.

Once back in Japan, I was re-acquainted with Japanese sandwiches via home economics class. One of the first things we were taught to cook were sandwiches. They had to follow a strict formula: Thinly sliced, bendy white bread (close to English bread), spread with a mixture of softened butter and a tiny bit of mustard, one slice of ham, and one well dried lettuce leaf. 3 or 4 of these sandwiches stacked together, wrapped in a well wrung out tenugui (thin cotton cloth), weighted down on top with a cutting board. Unwrapped after half an hour of ‘resting’ the bread slightly damp; the crusts cut off, and the sandwiches cut into four triangles, or three rectangles, to be arranged neatly on a plate.

Japanese sandwiches can be a bit strange. Besides the very British-influenced sandwiches described above, there are a lot of double-carb sandwiches: korokke sando (fried potato croquettes in a hotdog type bun); potato salad sandwiches; yakisoba sando (stir fried yakisoba noodles on a bun). There are dessert sandwiches too, like sweetened whipped cream with strawberries and kiwi, between slices of buttered crustless bread.

I think my favorite sandwiches at the moment are the small yet hearty ones made by Confiserie Sprüngli in Zürich. They not only vary the fillings, they have different types of bread for each type of sandwich too. Roast vegetables on a pumpkin seed covered whole wheat bun; softly cooked asparagus and hardboiled eggs with mayonnaise on a multigrain mini-baguette; smoked salmon and cream cheese on a buttery soft roll. They are expensive, but I look forward to grabbing a few whenever I can. (There is a Sprüngli store handily located in the train station concourse that is attached to the airport. A sandwich there is the best snack to grab before continuing your trip by rail or air.)

For sandwiches that I make for my own lunches, I prefer the deconstructed method, as shown here for example: Filling and other food in containers, bread carried separately, to assemble right before eating. This avoids the problem of the bread getting soggy by lunchtime unless there is a fat barrier (butter, cream cheese, peanut butter and so on) between the bread and the filling. But occasionally I do like to indulge in an English-influenced Japanese style crustless sandwich - thin white bread slices slathered with soft butter, filled with ham-and-lettuce, tuna salad, or egg salad. Three triangles of these come to about 600 calories, but they bring back such great memories. (You can buy readymade versions at Japanese bakeries.)

What is your favorite sandwich? Do you have any sandwich related memories?

Halloween bentos galore!

maki — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 17:25:04 +0000

I haven’t had any time to make a Halloween themed bento this year, since I’m still working on the recipes for my book. But many talented bentoists in the Just Bento flickr pool have been busy making some really scary-cute bentos! It just goes to show that, contrary to some misplaced assumptions, it’s not just Japanese moms that can get very creative with bentos. Here are a few that caught my eye.

This bento by gamene makes great use of themed stickers and the rather weird color of purple broccoli for that spooky look. Check out the detail of the carved ‘pumpkin’ mini-pepper!

This one by Bunches and Bits has a spider-web (made of cut nori) covered sandwich, and a big, scary spider with a meatball body. It also uses a themed sticker creatively.

mirdreams makes great use of the autumnal colors of sweet pepper and tomatoes, with Jack-o-lantern faces of course! The egg white faces are nice and ghostly.

MandLmom makes a slightly overtoasted English muffin look like a bug-eyed mummy. The jicama ghosts are ghoulishly semi-transparent, which is a great touch.

I’m not quite sure what that monster climbing out of Judy’s Notebook’s bento is, but it’s scary, as are the baleful owls. The milk bottle is a mystery to ponder.

Here’s another spooky cat themed bento, from MAHOUTAKE.

And last but not least, check out this Jack-o-lantern bento by the always talented sherimiya.

I really like the direction that many non-Japanese charaben artists are taking, as seen in these photos. Instead of relying on colored molded rice, sausages or fish products and thin omelettes (usuyaki tamago) as most Japanese charabens do, they are using the natural, vibrant colors and textures of vegetables and fruit very creatively. Kudos to you all!

And however you choose to celebrate it, have a great Halloween and/or All Hallow’s Day!

Teaching my sister to make bentos to help deal with her hypoglycemia

maki — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 13:10:55 +0000

This is a guest post by Nicole of Discojing. She tells us how she taught her sister to make bento lunches for herself to help to cope with hypoglycemia. What a great sister!

Diseases that involve blood sugar often creep up on you. It wasn’t until my mother was older and my younger sister and I were well into our teens that we were exposed to hypoglycemia and Type II Diabetes. Type II Diabetes is a growing epidemic in the world, and most people don’t know that it’s actually preventable. My mother’s poor diet habits led her hypoglycemia to develop into Type II Diabetes. My sister and I both have hypoglycemia and are in trying to keep Diabetes at bay. Unfortunately, in a culture that advertises unhealthy and fast food at the same time as a thin=attractive mentality, it is hard to win this war.

By eating a well-balanced diet and eating when your body tells you to (whether this is three, four, or five times a day), great strides can be taken to eliminate the risk of developing Diabetes. I am currently in the process of helping my sister understand not only her disease and its risks, but also valuable life skills such as cooking and budgeting. My sister is just starting college and she needs to be able to budget the adequate time and money needed to planning her meals, as well as understanding what types of food she should and shouldn’t eat. I think bento does a great job of meeting all these requirements because it’s fun, transportable, environmentally friendly, economical, and is a medium for learning.

The first step for my sister was to acknowledge that she needs to start taking better care of herself. We set in place some emergency foods that she should have on hand at all times (mini-energy bars, ginger candies, glucose tablets, etc). The amount and type of “emergency” foods will vary for everyone depending on the severity of their blood sugar issues.

The second step is to make it as easy as possible. My sister knew what bento was long before she started making it herself since made them for her and my brother during middle and high school. She was familiar with the portions and equipment, but had no idea how to plan meals. I took her to the local Asian super market and walked her through the aisles, seeing if she could pick some things out on her own. We left with some simple and filling dishes, including curry, okonomiyaki mix, noodles, and furikake.

Before teaching her how to make dishes, I opened the refrigerator and showed her how there were leftovers that could be reused into bento. It was important to let her know that bento can be comprised of leftovers from the night before or recreated as ingredients. This was key to making bento seem less over-whelming. We scrounged through the refrigerator and found vegetables for okonomiyaki and leftover chicken cutlets to dress some restaurant-bought salad. I watched as my sister made the pancakes and then quizzed her on what she thought should go into the bento to make it more balanced. So far we had some fresh light vegetables, protein, and hearty pancakes. We agreed that something to snack on that wasn’t too un-healthy was needed and decided on some fruit cereal, chocolate candies, and a ginger candy.

My sister only requires bento two to three times a week because of her current class schedule. I took this opportunity to show her that you can make bento whenever you have free time, not only the night or morning before classes. I had done most of the work in the first bento (above), but I made it my sister’s job to execute the second one as independently as possible. She decided on sesame noodles topped with some of the same chicken in the other bento and some furikake. Even though these are packaged noodles, I told my sister she could drain almost all the broth to make them healthier. After the noodles, my sister was stumped as to what to put in. I asked if she had any fruit and we cut up some oranges. While I placed the oranges into a foil cup, she remembered that some black and white animal crackers would go well with the bento—noting the color contrast. I smiled as she gently layered the crackers into another foil cup.

My sister had never had these particular noodles before, and she loved them. Bento is another way to try great foods, since half of the battle is presentation.

I periodically check up on my sister to see how things are doing in school, including how her bento-ing is going. She often asks me questions about what things go together, or how to transport a particular dish. I keep reminding myself that a few months ago my sister never packed her lunch and only knew how to make grilled cheese. She’s come a long way in such a short amount of time. I’d like to believe that bento has made her more conscious of money, time, and her health. Most importantly, she hasn’t gotten sick since school started and she’s feeling more comfortable in the kitchen.

Even though these bento might not be the most beautiful, colorful, or well put together, I try to stress a balance that is obtainable by those that are starting out in the kitchen.

About the author

Nicole is the writer for a food-centric blog titled Discojing. On her site, she chronicles her experiments with recipes and restaurants as well as bento. This all stems from her family who is ethnically Chinese and Cherokee, but culturally Hawai’ian.

Mini fruit fit for bento boxes

maki — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 13:05:18 +0000

I am not sure if it’s because I’m always on the lookout for things to go into bento boxes, or just a coincidence, but I have been seing more mini-fruits that are just right to tuck into the corner of a bento box lately. The photo above shows a couple of these: small yet still sweet figs, about 1 inch / 2 cm in diameter at their fattest point, and something that was being sold as mini kiwis (Debra of hapa bento saw them being sold as kiwi berries). They look like tiny kiwis when cut open, and taste like kiwis, but lack the hairy skins; they have smooth, totally edible skins. I’ve seen two kinds - ones that are a reddish-green on the outside and about the shape of an American football or rugby ball, and ones that are elongated, about the length of my thumb. They are very cute, though a bit expensive - but then you only need a few for a bento box.

Another fruit, not exactly mini, that I like to put into the fruit section of a bento is pomegranate seeds (you see a couple in the photo). They are sweet-sour and make great little nibbles. They are so pretty too. You can shake some out of a cut open pomegranate by turning it cut side down over a bowl or plate, and whacking it hard with a wooden spoon, handy open beer bottle, your fist, etc.

Pomegranate seeds form the center of this lovely fruit bento box by gamene, from the Just Bento flickr group:

Tips for fruit in bento boxes

Soft fruit in particular should be kept cool, so be sure that any warm/cooked items sharing space in the same bento box are cooled down completely. Otherwise, pack your fruit in a separate container and consider packing an ice pack with it.
Cut fruit should be dunked into salted water or acidulated water (water with some lemon juice squeezed in) to prevent browning.
Go for fruit in season!
This is a bit of a prejudice of mine perhaps, but an all-fruit bento is not too balanced nutritionally. While fruit is healthy for you, remember that it’s mostly sugar and water with some vitamins. Depending on the type of fruit, they can be rather high in calories (dried fruit especially). Try to keep the amount of fruit to a half or less of your total bento lunch. If you have a very fruity bento, consider cutting down a bit on other carbs and adding more vegetables and protein.

What are your favorite fruits for bentos or lunchboxes?

Just Bento - a healthy meal in a box: great bento recipes, tips, and more

Packing a nutritionally dense bento box for the active person

Carbs

Protein

Vegetables and Fruit

Fats

Bento fillers

Bentos to go, for a couple on the go

About the author

Book review and giveaway: The Manga Cookbook

Book details

The giveaway rules

Fun with sweet mochi and fruit "sushi"

Basic Mochi Recipe

Nigiri

Maki Rolls

About the author

Bento: The Magical Bond for Parents and Children

About the author

What is a bento anyway, redux: It's not just about cute charaben

A more realistic view of charaben in Japan

My sister’s take on charaben, from a Japanese mom’s point of view

Looking at the current bento book bestsellers in Japan

My take on charaben and bentos in general

Footnote: The Kobayashi family, from mother to son

Bento side: 3-minute omelette

Recipe: 3-minute microwave omelette

Thank you (I think), Lord Sandwich

Halloween bentos galore!

Teaching my sister to make bentos to help deal with her hypoglycemia

About the author

Mini fruit fit for bento boxes

Tips for fruit in bento boxes