Japanese Lunch boxes!

Do you remember how your mom packed you a lunch to take with you to school? You might carry your lunch in a small box with your favorite cartoon on it to school in America. Well in Japan, they definitely have more of a lunch box culture that doesn’t limit itself to only school children. In Japan, mothers will often make a small lunch box called “Bento” for not only their children, but for their husband to take to work too!

Here’s an example of a bento that I’ve made myself!

What goes inside of a bento box? Really, almost anything as long as it’s small enough to fit inside the box! Usually, I cook a large dinner and I’ll put whatever is leftover from dinner in my boyfriend’s lunch box to take to work the next day. Bento boxes are also microwavable so you can heat them up before you eat them!

Bento boxes are usually separated into different little sections of food groups. Of course, most all bento contain rice! Ah, Japanese rice… Rice is so delicious in Japan and it’s incredibly filling and leaves you feeling full and satisfied after eating. Another common item Japanese put in bento are fermented vegetables. Recently, I’ve been fermenting vegetables a lot at my home! Fermenting vegetables takes some maintenance for sure, but the end result is increased nutrients in the vegetables and it’s an incredible source of probiotics! In the future, I’ll make a post about what I use to ferment vegetables, how to keep maintenance on them, and my favorite vegetables to ferment.

Here’s a few more pictures of bento that I’ve made!