Bento Bonanza

Our guest speaker for my class was Dr. Andrea G. Arai, who lived in Japan and taught us about obentos. I was shocked to find out that there are even bento competitions! Here is an example of one entry:

Don't worry about making such elaborate obentos, but it is amazing to see how beautiful they can become. Obentos are made in Japan by mothers of nursery children and teachers evaluate the obento to see if mothers are putting enough effort and time for their children. The amount of time spent on creating and preparing is incredibly long. It's interesting to learn that mothers are judged strictly by the food they make instead of how much they love and treat their children.

At school I got the chance to create my own obento for Dalya. I do admit that I could have tried a little harder. It took so much energy on something that I thought would be so simple. Contrast in color, shapes, and texture, creativity, and presentation all make a phenomenal obento. As you can see there is a nori-wrapped, triangular rice ball, pickled radish, mini cucumber slices, seasoned seaweed with sesame, green beans, and kamaboko.