BENTO THE BEAUTIFUL ART OF BENTO BOXES Bento boxes have elevated the standards of packing a lunch box, and if you haven’t purchased a bento box set, now is the time! Written by Kristy Kim Illustration by Thomas Harris
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ou know those moms who effortlessly wake up each morning at 5 a.m. to make their kid’s school lunches in bento boxes while simultaneously molding their foods into cute Pokémon or Hello Kitty designs? Not to brag, but that was my mom making seamlessly easy-looking cartoon characters out of rice balls and omelets. The most recent trend of Bento boxes on social media made us think about why they deserve all the hype and appreciation. Especially now, as more people are spending time at home, we have more interest in spicing up our home-cooked meals and finding new outlets to enjoy the meals we make while also being aesthetically pleasing. Apart from the time and skill it takes to curate such a masterpiece, bento boxes have been a part of Japanese culture dating as far back as the fifteenth century by a man named Oda Nobunaga. Wooden bento boxes were a quick and efficient way to carry your lunch around while traveling and doing a variety of different tasks. As bento boxes progressed, they formed into more sophisticated meals such as makunouchi bento, which included
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