Thursday, May 07, 2009

through the looking glass...


Bento is the Japanese style of packing a lunch “to go” in a small box, unlike the b.s. brown bag your mom (and some grown ass people) stuck you with as you ran off to school back in the day. Bento is for work, for school, for field trips, for picnics, etc. Take-out lunch on crack, if you will. Bento is the Japanese way of saying "take-out" meal, but bento boxes are typically used for serving meals at home or at sit-down restaurants. If you travel through Japan, you will find many restaurants serving food in bento boxes because they often have many compartments and make it easy to store food. Many bento boxes have a lacquer surface, which leave the boxes with an attractive, glossy finish.

Of course though in Japan nothing is exactly what it seems and in a culture where everything tends to be kawaii ("cute"), Bento boxes are no exception. Here are some of the creative that I have seen in my travels to Japan and on the Internet...

a bunch of cute little animals...


Mozart, Nintendo DS and Starbucks Cup


Super Mario and the Mona Lisa


"Odd how the creative power at once brings the whole universe to order"

~Virginia Woolf

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