Martha Stone - The Bento Cookbook: The Artful Japanese Lunch Box

The Bento Cookbook

The Artful Japanese LunchBox

Copyright 2014 MarthaStone

Smashwords Edition

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Martha Stone is a chef and alsocookbook writer. She was born and raised in Idaho where she spentmost of her life growing up. Growing up in the country taught herhow to appreciate and also use fresh ingredients in her cooking.This love for using the freshest ingredients turned into a passionfor cooking. Martha loves to teach others how to cook and she lovesevery aspect of cooking from preparing the dish to smelling itcooking and sharing it with friends.

Martha eventually moved to California and metthe love of her life. She settled down and has two children. She isa stay at home mom and involves her children in her cooking as muchas possible. Martha decided to start writing cookbooks so that shecould share her love for food and cooking with everyone else.

You can also check out my blog at: http://martha-stone.blogspot.com

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The Japanese lunch box is famed for its detailed ministration tocreate artful edible masterpieces. Also called bento, the termrefers to a single-portion take out which holds rice, meat or fishand vegetables. Bento boxes are usually contained in box-shapedcontainers. They are readily available in convenience stores andrailway stations as people can just grab them and go to eat theirlunch. However, many Japanese homemakers spend a lot of time aswell as energy in preparing bento for their family members and thisgave rise to the elaborately designed styling of bento called theKyaraben. The kyaraben is a lunchbox unlike any other because theyare typically decorated to look from ordinary everyday items,animals and popular characters from Japanese anime, manga as wellas video games. Although some people think that bento is geared toyoung people, they are widely received among Japanese adults andhave already been an important part of the traditional and popularJapanese culture.

Bento did not really originate from Japan. It was first recordedduring the Song Dynasty in China and was carried to Japan byChinese travelers. On the other hand, other Asian countries alsohave their own version of bento boxes. For instance, Taiwan alsohas its own version of bento which is termed as bendong which means"convenient."
Bento has a very long origin and it can be traced back to theKamakura Period (1185 to 1333) when cooked rice is stored in asmall bag and taken conveniently by people wherever they go. It wasonly during the Azuchi-Momoyama Period (1568 to 1600) whenlacquered boxes were used to contain bento. However, it was duringthe Edo Period when bento boxes became more widespread and refined.Many travelers during the Edo Period carry a koshibento (waistbento) that consists of onigiri (rice balls). Bento boxes arebasically sold in restaurants and served during the intermissionsof their traditional stage plays Kabuki and Noh as well as duringfestivals like Hanami (cherry blossom viewing party) andHinamatsuri (Doll's Day).
During the late 1800s, the first ekiben (train station bento) wassold to meet the demands of train passengers during the time.Moreover, employees and students also carry bento with them asschool lunches are not yet provided during this time. However, there was a decline in the preparation of bento during theTaisho Period (1912 to 1926) and after World War II but it was onlyin the 1980s when the movement of carrying bento boxes becamepopular once again.

Today, bento is stored in all types of containers and althoughthere is an immense change of the type of containers used in bento,the components of bento still remained the same all throughout thecenturies. Bento contains bite-sized pieces of food items that canbe easily eaten using chopsticks. In most cases, bento boxescontain a cup of cooked white rice or rolls; noodles flavored withdifferent spices, meat and fish; vegetable side dishes; and slicesof fruits.
Bento boxes are famous for their presentation. The food items areusually arranged intricately and the food items are usuallydesigned to take on different shapes. This is the reason why mostbento boxes feature designs of famous Japanese cartooncharacters. Aside from the design of the food itself, the boxitself also plays a very important role in the overall design ofthe meal. In most cases, bento boxes are usually wrapped in a pieceof cloth or kept in a pouch together with the eatingutensils.

For someone who is new to making bento, learning the art of makingbento can be very overwhelming. Bento is the overall productcreated from laboring in the kitchen and it is made up of differentJapanese dishes to create the final product. It is not only enoughthat you learn about the techniques on how to turn ordinary fooditems into edible art. It is also important that you learn aboutthe different Japanese cuisines that you need to include in yourbento box.
In this book, you will be able to explore and be amazed of the manytypes of dishes that you can use to create an attractive bentobox. You will learn the techniques in making different kindsof rice and sushi rolls. No bento box is complete with sushi riceand other types of sushi rolls such as California, tuna and dragonrolls. Aside from the recipe, you will also be learning insidertrips on how to make mess-free sushi rolls even on the firsttry.
Noodles is also a good source of carbohydrates in bento boxes thusthis book also contains interesting Japanese noodle dishes that youcan use to substitute your rice rolls. Examples of recipes that canbe found in this book include Yakisoba with Shio Koji and ColdRamen.
Remember that bento boxes should contain a generous amount ofprotein from meat, chicken, beef or fish. This book has a wideselection of traditional meat dishes to choose from. From ebi(shrimp) tempura to chicken katsu, you can be assured that you willbe cooking bento-worthy Japanese dishes in no time at all. Othermeat dishes that you can choose from include pork shogayaki, misochicken, crabmeat with wasabi mayonnaise and the infamousfried gyoza.
Vegetables play a very important part in bento thus this book willteach you how to make healthy and delicious side dishes such askabocha salad, pickled cucumbers, eggplant salad and shisotofu. Lastly, you will also learn how to make traditional sweetdesserts that you can include to complete your bento box. Examplesof recipes found in this book include matcha (green tea) fruitbavarois, candied sweet potatoes, doryaki and green teacookies.
This book contains everything that you need to know about bentomaking. By the end of this book, you will be making bentolunch boxes that can rival those that are sold in train stations ormade by authentic Japanese housewives even if you aren't.