Just Bento

Indeed, a lot of Americans, maybe other people too, seem to have a problem fathoming food in a little compact box. I'm pondering how to get around that problem...

"perhaps that mentality is why we have a pediatric obesity epidemic in the United States"

BIG GRIN, best laugh of the day.

Folks in other countries sometimes don't appreciate the American penchant for the 'diamond blurt.'

Others love us for it.

nice one, BF Guru. ~:-D

To be fair, a big chunk of it isn't so much the amount of food as compacting it. A lot of us are used to a lot of extra space in our lunchboxes between individually-wrapped items, or things like sandwiches which are hard to fit into a smaller, more compact bento box.

"Stop having the boring tuna; stop having the boring life" - Vince Offer

I'm always surprised at how small a portion of other food (stew or whatever) looks when it's been packed in the little boxes I use for the freezer. It looks a lot bigger spread out on a plate.

Actually, I was shocked when I opened up the box my first bento came in (the kids Vivo bento). It was miniscule! Slightly larger than a baby food jar, I thought. Then I was shocked again the first time I used it, and could fit a whole lunch, snack, tiny fork, a washcloth thing (forget the proper name) and dessert. And I eat a lot! Since we usually see our food spread across a plate (in the US) we don't know that it can actually be squished into such a small space.

I think it is mostly just conditioning. We grow up having lunches all packed in separate containers and so can't picture it all in one box. Because we can only mentally picture each piece individually we have no concept of how much -less- space it would take up in a single container.

I originally started packing my whole lunch into a single plastic food container because I had already made the switch over to reusable containers (from plastic wrap and throw-away bags etc.) in an effort to be eco-friendly. However, I found I hated washing three or four containers for every meal. At first I started with just two items in each box, but now I pack the whole thing all together so I only have one dish at the end.

I think you may find bento gaining popularity as other families switch into reusable containers. I hope that seeing my lunch all in one box will encourage others in my workplace to do the same. Making an attempt at spreading information about bento as a healthy-weight management tool might help too.

I think the three biggest mental blocks people have against bento boxes are -

- OMG! The boxes are so tiny!

the related

- I don't want my food to touch!

and

- I MUST HAVE hot meals! Can't even contemplate cold (room temp) food!

I remember being astonished at how small my first bento boxes were.

Years later my friends, who have become used to bento-sized meals and how, yes, they will fill you up, now like to take bento hiking. The Japanese are smart. Onigiri is great travel food.

I decided to start bentoing because one of the biggest problems I was having with dieting was portion control. I was so confused with how much I should be eating and how would I know if i was overeating ect. I remember reading on one website that you should be eating a thumb size of carbs, a palm size of protein and a handful of veggies, but my hands are tiny :s.

So I decided to get a japanese bento, which was on sale wooohooo :). But when it arrived I had exactly the same reaction Noel ^^ and I thought, this is tiny, I'm either going to starve or have to get another one. I thought it might be because my bento is a 3 layer one or I'd accidently bought a child's bento or something, but I just decided to go for it and prepared my first bento and found that about 3/4 in, i was struggling to finish and I'm really glad about my 3 layer bento because i can have the right ammount of carbs, protein and veggies. :D and I use it measure out my dinner portions too.