What is this 'bento' thing?
Essentially a bento is a lunch packed in a box. What makes a bento different from normal packed lunches are the protective nature of the box and the way that food is packed. The first prevents the food from being squished and the second keeps the food from shifting during transit. These contribute to lunches looking exactly the same when it's time to eat as it looked when you packed it; aesthetically pleasing for the body and mind. Often beautiful, sometimes cute and always delicious, bento lunches are sweeping the globe. To learn more about bentos in general, have a look at my bento blog - Bento Anarchy.
How long have you been making bentos?
I have been making bentos for about 7 years and presenting lectures about them, blogging about them and singing their praises for 5 years.
How long does it take to make a bento lunch?
In general basic bentos take about ten minutes. Character bentos usually take a bit longer, 15 or 20 minutes. The key to making bentos quickly is practice!
Do I have to cook Japanese food to make a bento?
No, not at all! I use a variety of world cuisines in our bento lunches from American to Indian, Morrocan to Japanese. Bento boxes are perfect for packing spaghetti, burgers, couscous and even pancakes.
What is so great about bentos?
I can rhapsodize about bentos for a long time. For the sake of brevity I will keep my answer to listing some of my favorite things about bentos.
1. Having your favorite foods for lunch - it's a no-brainer.
2. The aesthetic beauty of bento lunches means I look forward to eating them.
3. Having no worries over finding food that we can eat.
4. Healthy, nutritious, well balanced lunches every day.
5. Bentos get a +10 bonus from me for being environmentally friendly.
How often do you pack a bento lunch?
My daughter gets a bento lunch every day for school. We are currently at the end of the second year of school where she has had a bento five days a week. I get bento lunches less frequently because I often work from home. We both get bentos when we travel and whenever I can come up with an excuse to make them!
What is included in the price of the classes?
Two hours of instruction, a bento kit, the food used for practicing in the class, instruction sheets and recipe sheets. Occasionally classes will be for shorter or longer time periods depending on the location and focus of the class. Bento kits for the basic class include a bento box, sauce bottle, silicone container, food picks and travel fork. Kits for the character class include a nori punch, shape cutters, food picks and dividers.
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