From Japan to the World
Bentos are a representative of Japan's food culture.
There's a Frenchman who wants to spread that Japanese culture around the world.
When you open the lid of the box, you can see a colorful arrangement of delicious foods. Fish, meat, vegetables, eggs, and various other kinds of foods are organized in the partitions with skill and don’t cause interference with each other in a small area. Bentos for cherry blossom viewing, bentos from your loving wife, train station bentos, and also “My bentos”, and more. Appetizers, main dishes, and sometimes even deserts are included, so a full course meal can be carried around. Bentos are a food culture unique to Japan.
The bento boxes that you know are now becoming advanced. By introducing bentos to the world through the internet, the number of bento lovers has grown, and ideas from different food cultures are born. From those ideas, Japanese bento box manufacturers have also been getting involved and are evolving.
From the traditional to the modern
Japanese Style Bento Box
The person who became attracted to the bento boxes is a Frenchman living in Kyoto, Thomas Bertrand. He’s the owner of BERTRAND Co. Ltd. and a bento box specialty store, “Bento & co.” Bento & co is in the center of Kyoto, in the commercial district, near Teramachi Ave. It may be a specialty shop, but in reality, the number of products is very large. There are many colorful or well-designed boxes, like “magewappa” wooden bento boxes and other traditional styles, bento boxes with dry ice holders in the lids, “kokeshi” bento boxes, which are the most popular, with maiko or ninja designs, bento boxes with lids decorated with Japanese patterns, which are popular overseas, three level bento boxes that are so stylish that they don’t even look like bento boxes, and more. There are also bento boxes born in France. One of the bento boxes, designed by a French fan of bentos, has an inner lid that prevents the liquids inside from leaking. Inside the lid, there’s a fork, spoon, or other accessories that fit perfectly inside. “Three level bentos boxes and other boxes that didn’t sell at department stores sell pretty well here. It’s because the explanation at my store is well-liked by the customers,” said Mr. Bertrand.
Livable and delicious
What attracted Mr. Bertrand to bento boxes may be a little unexpected. What kind of circumstances were there? Mr. Bertrand came to Japan in 2003. The university he attended in France had an exchange program with Kyoto University, and he did a one year study abroad there. “I wanted to know more about Kyoto, and I wanted to become better at Japanese,” he said. When he came back to live in Kyoto, Mr. Bertrand started a blog called “La rivière aux canards / Kamo River” and wrote many articles about the various charms of Kyoto, like beautiful things, interesting things, delicious foods, nice things, and more, in French.
What was he attracted to about Kyoto? “It’s easy to live in. Even though it’s a big city, there is a lot of nature, it’s close to the mountains, and rivers flow through the heart of the city as an oasis. Kamo River is especially nice. And, there are a lot of cafes and restaurants with a personality and a lot of delicious food.” “It has an atmosphere of an international city, because there are many young people and foreigners living there.” Mr. Bertrand talks about the charms of Kyoto in this way.
Modern Bento Box
Kyoto is "Delicious"
The number of people reading his blog grew and grew, and it started getting 600 to 800 visitors a day. “Those people, they obviously have a great interest in Kyoto and Japan. I thought I could tie this in to a kind of business.” At that time, he heard that a French magazine had a special about bentos. “This is it, I thought.” Mr. Bertrand was confident that France, which has a culture of enjoying putting in a lot of time and effort towards food, could accept Japanese bentos. After that, his activities were quick. In 2008, he started an internet shop aimed at France which sold bento boxes and gained a reputation. In 2010, he started an English site, and in 2011 he opened up a Japanese site, and he started receiving orders from over 70 countries from around the world. Also, in 2012, in the central area of Kyoto, he opened up a bento box specialty shop. “It was all thanks to Kyoto,” he smiled.
Packing the food beautifully
About the charms of bentos, Mr. Bertrand had this to say. “You can make many different tastes that you like, fill up the bento box with delicious foods as you partition them with leaves or baran (plastic leaves) and take it to go with you. What I mean when I say the beauty of delicious foods, I mean the food culture of France that also holds that as important. Even I make my own bento once a week.” “Now, men and women in France and Europe are enjoying the bento culture of making their own food and placing it beautifully in a bento box. Before, people would take a salad and one more item in a plastic container, but now, the food for one meal is made and placed beautifully in a box, this is a new kind of idea.” “On the other hand, in America and Northern Europe, the number of mothers who want to start giving their children delicious, healthy food for lunch has grown. Making slow food is starting to be reviewed.”
From Japan to the world, and from the world to Japan
“Bento & co”, which has been conveying to the world of Japan’s food culture from Kyoto, started a bento contest in 2008. They gather pictures of bentos that people are proud of and pick a winner. This is the 5th year of the contest, and they have received 340 pictures from 32 countries. “The winning bento was the motif of a cherry blossom viewing and it was so beautiful that you would feel regret in eating it.” The winner was a Frenchman who has submitted for the third time.
Now, the thing that “Bento & co” are preparing is a blog that introduces bentos from around the world to Japan. The bento culture that started in Japan has come back like a boomerang and has picked up a flavor from all over the world. “Bento & co” has become a base for the transmission of information and is spreading the culture of bentos all around the world. “I hope to change the food culture of people all over the world to be enjoyable and healthy, through selling bento boxes.” Mr. Bertrand, who loves delicious food, is the special one who thinks like this and could start a business.
