What Japanese bento box culture taught me about healthy eating
A realist’s approach to a healthy lifestyle
When you think of Japanese bento boxes, what do you imagine? In western media, it’s common to think that Japanese bento boxes are these beautiful, intricate, well-balanced meals for children and spouses, made by the “can-do-everything” perfect parent.
But if you were to meet one of these individuals and watch them prepare this meal, you might be surprised to find that their approach to making a packed lunch is not as elegant as you might’ve expected. It’s healthy, relatively pretty, and well-balanced, but the focus isn’t on how it was prepared or the artisanal quality of the ingredients.
Fine dining is about perfecting food. Bento box culture is about perfecting food in the microwave.
I was watching my sister prepare lunch for us one weekend, but instead of putting the eggs in a pot of boiling water to boil, she pulled out two little blue, ceramic bowls, cracked our eggs in them, and then covered it with room temperature water. What is she doing with our eggs?
