Bento - Japanese Lunch Boxes

All the kids come to school with Bento boxes. They're double layered lunch boxes which are held together with an elastic band then wrapped up together with chopsticks in a cloth which is tied at the top. All of this is put into a tiny tote bag and ALWAYS carried separately in hand. They usually also have a flask and a shoulder bag for school books and sports clothes. Rucksacks are not big here!

In the bento the bottom tray is filled with rice and sometimes sprinkled with spices and flavours like dried tuna, nori flakes etc

the top contains the main food - either curry or more usually many very small portions of food. The portions are small so you don't overeat and the wide variety they pack in makes them nutritionally well rounded. After knowing this and watching "Cooking With Dog" I had to try and make an elaborate one myself so here's a picture of tomorrows lunch....

My Bento - Got the Octopus idea from Cook With Dog - How to make Bento (You Tube it - it's priceless)

Things to note - the tiny bottle filled with Soy Sauce (I bought a bag of 8 for 90 Yen), the fact that everything comes in it's own individual fairy cake paper/foil cup and lastly the fake grass the include in almost every Bento whether it's shop bought or made a home. Again I bought a bag of hundreds for like 70 Yen! :o)

Retha's Bento - She got the Pig idea from the back of the sausage packet.

I totally think these should be used in the U.K. they would encourage children to eat healthily from an early age (Fiona maybe you should make these with kids at school at a health improvement day?)

The only problem is they take AGES to make, Check out some crazy examples.... or just type Cute Bento into Google Images.