Angel Burns - The Simplified Bento Cookbook: Featuring Easy, Simple and Effortless Recipes for a Healthy Diet

Before we begin learning how to make Bento, we need to understand what it is. The Japanese word Bento roughly translates into box lunch in English. It is a single portioned meal that either is packaged for takeout or is used as a boxed lunch. Bento is a single-portion home-packed or takeout meals that are common in Japan and other parts of Asia. Japan is best known for standard bento lunches but many countries have different versions of bento and there are regionalized and localized versions of bento in each country. These meals are immensely popular and are gaining popularity in the Western world.

Bento usually contains rice or pasta, meat, and a vegetable. This box meal is often served in a box-like container.

Different boxes exist. For instance, Kyaranben or character boxes are elaborately arranged to look like popular cartoon characters. Oekakiben or picture boxes are made to look like plants, animals, people, or even buildings.

The original term, biandang meant convenience but was changed to bento as the years past. Bento today simply refers to a generic boxed lunch.

Bento can be traced back to as early as the Kamakura Period, which was between the years 1185-133This was when Hoshi-ii cooked and dried rice was developed. You can eat Hoshi-ii dried or cook it and it is stored in a plastic bag.

Between 1568 and 1600, small wooden boxes were created much like what Bento is eaten out of today. During this period, Bento was often eaten at tea parties.

During the Edo Period between the years 1609 to 1867, the culture of Bento began to spread and became more refined as well. Travelers began to carry koshibent, which means waist bento. During this time, many cookbooks were written and published instructing how to cook, pack, and serve bento.

Between 1868 and 1912, the first train station bento was sold. There are many stories about where the first bento was sold but it believed that the first train station bento was sold on July 16th at Utsunomiya train station in 1885. It is said that the bento contained two onigiri as well as takuan, which was wrapped in bamboo leaves. Since many of the early schools did not provide lunches at the time, many students as well as teachers began carrying bentos to school.

It was during this period that European style bentos, which contained sandwiches, began to sell as well. By the end of WW2, most students as well as teachers stopped bringing bento to school and it was replaced with school-provided lunches.

During the 1980s, bentos made a comeback and one of the reasons for this was the convenience of microwaves.

When you are creating a bento, you can use any type of box to put the food in and basically put any food inside the box. Although there are different types of bento, the first type of bento is Makunouchi bento, which is usually prepared to be eaten at a table.

Kouraku bento is a picnic type of bento meaning it is made to be shared with a group of people usually in an outdoor setting. Eki bento was originally sold in train stations but now is available at the mall and even at convenience stores.

The type of bento that has been getting the most attention today though is the Kyaranben bento. This bento is literally small works of art. Mothers usually make these for their children but there are also many competitions that involve Kyaranben bento creations.

It should be noted that many Japanese mothers do not spend their time creating Kyaraben every day; it is more of a hobby than part of their everyday living. The type of bento that is taken to work or school on a daily basis is a much simpler bento often referred to as plain bento.