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Forum - View topicAnswerman - Are Japanese Bento Boxes Really So Extravagant?
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Amara Tenoh
 Posts: 333 |
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Yum!
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Animechic420
 Posts: 1734 Location: A Cave Filled With Riches |
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Dat thumbnail bento, though!
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tophg
Posts: 22 |
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That kitten bento in the pic looks amazing and I want to eat it NOW.
In my travels I've noticed that breakfast is one of the most diverse meals, no country can seem to quite agree what's best to eat to prepare you for the day ahead. The questioner is perhaps thinking too narrowly. There's a lengthy history in Anglosaxon and colder countries (perhaps with previously large populations of industrial workers who needed to fill up) of large cooked savoury breakfasts that involve a lor of preparation, just think the "Full English" breakfast and fish dishes like kippers, haddock, sardines, etc. in the UK. There are even crazy people who still eat kedgeree (curried fish with rice *shudder*), legacy of empire. And of course the abomination known as "black pudding" ... i.e. fried blood. National staples inevitably dominate. So travelling In Bulgaria I was force-fed cucumbers every morning wherever I went for apparently no good reason other than nobody knew what else to do with them all. The French picking at buttered pastries and bowls of chocolate milk are the worst, of course. I don't count the USA, as anyone who pours syrup over eggs and bacon with pancakes on the side clearly has no concept of what meal they're eating at any one time and don't care anyway 
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zrnzle500
 Posts: 3768 |
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^Speaking of not caring what meal you're eating, that's one reason I like Monte Cristos, in addition to the interesting contrast in texture and flavors between the french toast, ham and turkey, cheese, and the syrup. Last edited by zrnzle500 on Wed May 04, 2016 1:28 pm; edited 1 time in total |
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omiya
 Posts: 1862 Location: Adelaide, South Australia |
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This was one of my best Japanese Ryokan breakfasts:
(rice was in the large covered bowl, natto was in the small brown cup on the right). In some places there was also rice porridge for breakfast, and most had a selection of pickled vegetables. While most bento boxes are sold and served cold, on the Watarase Keikoku Line, at one of the stations, hot roast pork bento boxes were sold: 
It's worth checking out the regional specialty bento when travelling around Japan also. |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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Ex hypothesi, doing so would fail to fill you up. Do you mean to implicate that you would welcome being fed a multitude of bento? Odd as it may seem, the breakfast item of which I have lately grown most fond is a combination of crusty bread, avocado and lime juice. It is most unfortunate that one such ingredient is stubbornly expensive. |
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EricJ2
 Posts: 4016 |
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Most of us are late sleepers, and usually in two-career households, so unless you've got a supermom who's a morning person (eesh  ), or a live-in-housewife mom like most Japanese households had up until recently, breakfasts are more likely to be a commuter stampede of every man, woman and schoolchild for themselves, with quick self-preparation foods like juice, toast, cereal, K-cup coffee, a banana or donut, and that's if the breakfast is actually eaten at home.
Oatmeal didn't even catch on until until you could minute-microwave it. Eating cereal is one of those "crazy gaijin" things the Japanese use to make fun of Clueless Americans--qv. Sana's depiction of an "American breakfast" on Kodocha--but the fact is, it is an American invention, when crazy Dr. Kellogg tried to find a vegetarian whole-grain replacement for bacon and eggs. (He was a Seventh-Day Adventist, was also against sugar, and objected when his brother tried selling the new "corn flakes" with frosting, which he didn't feel was great.) Still, I've been to a few hotels in the big business cities (NYC, LA) where they get enough Japanese travelers to put Japanese breakfast options on the hotel buffets, and...oh, yeah. Soup, rice and fish in the mornings are good. |
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Greed1914
 Posts: 4720 |
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Since I prefer savory to sweet in general, I have taken to preparing rice and miso soup for my breakfast each weekend. I still have the least sugary cereal I can find for weekday breakfast.
I think it was probably Toradora that actually showed me that the typical bento isn't as extravagant as it may seem. It isn't quite so intimidating when it involves leftovers, very simple dishes, and probably a good amount of rice which can be made in large batches and used throughout the day. |
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Lactobacillus yogurti
 Posts: 874 Location: Latin America |
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I think that's a hint that Justin wants someone to invite him for breakfast
 .
I, for one, am used to mostly carbs for breakfast due to where I'm from. But the idea of having salad for breakfast sounds like a good idea. Then again, a lot of people tend to have fruit for breakfast (mixed with yogurt or cereal), but since I'm not a fruit germ, I'd rather have veggies. |
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grooven
Posts: 1431 Location: Canada |
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I wanted to share my experience while I stayed with my friend. She told me that some moms go all out and while some do it once in a while. The ones that are really elaborate are called chara-bento (character bento) some do take quite a decent amount of time. Moms will wake up early just to make these lunches. I helped make one for my friend's twin daughters (which is why they are both the same):
My friend who stayed with me made one too: 
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epicwizard
Posts: 420 Location: Ashburn, VA |
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That's definitely true. Majority of the cereals there are flakes and popular Western cereals, such as Cheerios, Lucky Charms, and Trix, surprisingly haven't been exported there. Heck, there aren't any cereals with marshmallows. There's a post from a blog that has more details on how it sucks being a cereal fan in Japan: http://japaneselevelup.com/7-ways-japan-is-a-cereal-lovers-worst-nightmare/ |
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EricJ2
Posts: 4016 |
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You know it. 
I've mostly had a craze for two scoops of vanilla-with-chunks ice cream on top of hot microwave oatmeal (usually apple-cinnamon, with slightly less milk/water to give it a more cake-like consistency), but that photo now gives me the urge to mix a vanilla-caramel ice cream with Cap'n Crunch, or any of the newer varieties of Special K. (The crunchier, more honey-hardened flakes that are closer to Smart Start, not the light classic.) Reese's Puffs, or anything more puffy/baked like Cocoa Puffs, wouldn't crunch and go soggy too soon. |
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Hoppy800
 Posts: 3331 |
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I tend to skip breakfast and opt for green tea, orange juice, or coffee. Breakfast is too greasy and filling and I prefer cereal and oatmeal late at night as a snack.
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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I'm one of those people who actually likes natto, but I never really associated it with breakfast, nor would I ever have it for breakfast due to how hard it is to eat. Also, the smell of it lingers in my mouth longer than garlic.
When I go to a sushi place, more often than not if I can request an item they don't normally serve, I'll request a natto roll or gunkan.
Nah, until recently, the fast food business has kind of enforced it with breakfast-hours menus separate from the normal daytime menus. Then Jack in the Box advertised heavily that breakfast is served all day, and now McDonald's and, to a lesser extent, Burger King is doing it too.
Heh, I wonder if there'll ever be a time when Lucky Charms sells for stupid high prices like in the UK. (Why doesn't a British company make an equivalent? They're obviously in high demand there.) |
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Tenchi
 Posts: 4558 Location: Ottawa... now I'm an ex-Anglo Montrealer. |
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^ You can get Lucky Charms and other imported American products at some Tesco stores.
EDIT: Oh, no, wait, I see you're referring to how Tesco imports Lucky Charms to the U.K. at a premium price and are wondering whether Japan will ever do the same. Walmart does the same for British food in Canada, which is where I buy Bassett's Lemon Sherbets. -------------------------------- On topic: I always assumed that the most extravagant bento lunches you see in anime are comic exaggerations. Like, in Minami-ke, you have not one but two characters, Haruka Minami and her classmate who is infatuated with her, Hosaka, who are both preternaturally gifted at cooking and since food is a major plot element in that series, you frequently get glimpses of lavish bento boxes that those two characters have made that are fit for glossy food magazine spreads but which actual high school students in the real world with are unlikely to have time to put together before school. |
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