The ephemeral beauty of bento
January 31, 2011 § 6 Comments
The bento is no ordinary lunch box. It is a culinary universe, contained in a lunch box. I admit to having a soft spot for Japanese food and Japanese aesthetics, so it’s no wonder bentos fascinate me. Not just because they are beautiful. Because there is a whole different approach to food behind them.
- Bentos elevate the idea of a lunch box. Not the rushed junk lunch one usually has at work, but the kind you take time to prepare for yourself or loved ones.
- Bentos celebrate the ephemeral beauty of things. The beauty you glance at for a few seconds after opening the bento box and before devouring your lunch. So zen.
- Bentos are all for portion control (bento boxes are notoriously small) and healthy food choices (traditionally rice, fish, vegetables and fruits are the prefered bento choices)
Bentos range from minimal to elegant…
…and from kawai (cute) to completely outrageous (and some times kitch)
See a gallery of the best bento boxes we found on Flickr after the jump
copyright: kitsa sakurako
copyright: bentomom
copyright: luckysundae
copyright: luckysundae
copyright: sherimiya ♥
Copyright: babykins
copyright: luckysundae
copyright: sherimiya ♥
Copyright: ContrariwiseJewelry
Copyright: AugustusGloop
Copyright: bentomom
Copyright: Augustusgloop
Copyright: Token-Bento
Copyright: Token-Bento
Copyright: brennx0r
Copyright: Token-Bento
Copyright: sherimiya ♥
Copyright: tomono♪♪
Copyright: brennx0r
Copyright: jadedrop
Copyright: lsonlam430
Copyright: luckysundae
Bento resources:
it's a small web 
Wow, how beautiful. Do you know which brand the wooden kidney-shaped lunch box is? I would love to buy one.
Louisabellissima, you certainly have an eye for these things!
I think this is what you are looking for:
http://en.item.rakuten.com/miyoshi-ya/be-36/
or this variation:
http://en.item.rakuten.com/auc-sikkiya/oodatehangou/
Still, it’s worth visiting Bento & Co (http://en.bentoandco.com/collections/bento-boxes) and Casa Bento (http://casabento.com/cart/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=1_18) because they really do have amazingly crafted Bento Boxes, too.
Thank you! 🙂
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