How do you think you'd feel when your food is calling you, literally calling you...

And your senses can't resist it.

That's what happens when you see a delicious looking Bento, and you just can't get away.

For all those, who don't know about Bento, this post can be a really good introduction, how they are made and what's good about them.

So, here we go.

Bento

Bento (弁当 ) is a single-portion 

takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. 

A traditional bento holds rice, fish or meat, with pickled or cooked vegetables, usually in a box-shaped lacquerware container.

 

It's just a simple formula.

            Rice + Fish + Veggies ----------------------------> Delicious Bento

                                                Creativity(Catalyst)

I made this myself. Pretty happy about my photoshop skills.

And I wanted to tell everyone about this another new development of mine.

 I'm working on this book and doing my research on the basic essence of Bento and what makes the Japanese people to create something out of tomatoes and rice balls.

Coming back to where we were...

Bento is one of the most famous cuisines of Japan and are readily available everywhere throughout the japan. Bento shops also known as Bento-ya in Japanese, are available in every railway station, markets, convenience stores and departmental stores.

What I understand, is that the real essence of Bento lies in the way they are elaborately arranged in different ways basically influenced by the Pop cultures. These ways of arrangements are known as

>Kyaraben (Character Bento)

>Oekakiben (Picture Bento)

Kyaraben

Kyaraben are typically decorated to look like popular characters from Japanese cartoons (anime), comic books (manga), or video games.

Oekakiben

Oekakiben is decorated to look like people, animals, buildings and monuments, or items such as flowers and plants. 

Contests are often held where bento arrangers compete for the most aesthetically pleasing arrangements.

It's not that difficult to make a beautiful bento. It just need a lot of patience, hardwork and a creativity that every mother have.
I'm writing this post in an easy English for every mother to get some help out of it.
Here are some templetes that can be referred to make a bento or try these techniques on some other cuisine, say Indian.

Character Bento

 Picture Bento

Try it for yourself!

This is it for today

Thanks for reading. ^_^