Has The Homemade Bento Box Become a Showmanship In Being the Perfect Person?
Lessons from the spirit of the Japanese bento box
When I think about food as love, nothing encapsulates the feeling better than the Japanese bento box. Carefully planned, crafted, and put together, it is a common way for parents and partners to show their loved ones that they care.
Bento boxes, especially those homemade by Japanese housewives, are famous for their care and quality — just look up the hashtag on Instagram and thousands of beautiful photos of carefully crafted meals will pop up.
But behind these images I’m seeing a rising anxiety in this idea: has the homemade bento box become a showmanship in being the perfect person?
The history of the bento box
The bento box wasn’t always so crafted. The first recorded instance of the bento was around the 5th century, a very basic meal called hoshii (干飯), meaning dried rice. It was a modest bundle carried by hunters and could be steamed, boiled, or eaten as is.
But by the 1500s Japanese society changed, and work began to take place further away from the home, and so the first modern bento box was born. It was still considered quite utilitarian at the time — an easy way to eat on the go —…
