With some effort, a delicious bento!
An intern at the Research Lab, Yui, a university student, introduces some stories about bento.
Yui-san
My mother's hand-made full of love bento
On days I have to go to university, my mother makes me a bento every day. My mother wakes up every morning at 6 am and starts making bento. In my bento box, there's a lot of rice, salad, main dishes, and other things. For juicy dishes, they are wrapped in wrapping paper and closed with a wrapping twisted wire. This is so the juices don't spill. Lastly, I close the lid and put the box in my favorite rabbit-themed bento bag.
When my favorite foods or desert are inside, it makes me really happy. When I eat the bento, I feel my mother's kindness, and it gives me energy to study.
When I sometimes make a bento, there aren't many kinds of main dishes…
My bentos were made for me until I was 18, so I was surprised by a university student getting a home-made bento. How your mother shows her love….
Rice balls for the bus
From my house to my university, it takes two hours by bus and train. When I have to be at university at 1pm, I have to eat lunch during the commute. For those times, I buy two rice balls at the convenience store and eat them on the bus.
It's embarrassing to eat a bento on the bus, but I can eat a rice ball without a problem. And, nowadays, there are many kinds of delicious rice balls at the convenience store! When I want to save some money, I sometimes make rice balls at home.
When I saw someone eating udon noodles on the bus, I was really surprised.
My father's bento
My mother makes a bento for everyone in the family every day, but my father's bento is a little different. My father's bag is narrow, so a regular size bento box won't fit, so he uses a slim bento box. But, my father eats a lot, so my mother puts a lot of rice and foods into the slim box. She puts a mountain of rice and foods into it, and uses her full body weight to close the lid. So, there's so much food that even if the box is on its side, the insides don't move!
Club Camp - Pot Luck Dinner -
I'm in the Art Club. Once a year, for the club members to become more friendly, we have a 2-day, 1-night camping event. It's expensive to buy dinner for everyone there, so everyone brings a food item. Some people bring something that they made themselves, others bring deserts or drinks. There's a lot of different things, so it's very fun!
Everyone thinks about what the other people will bring and they all bring something different. Every year, despite not discussing anything, no one has brought the same thing as someone else!
When I need a bento, my mother often makes one for me. Sometimes I make one myself or buy rice balls at the convenience store. There are many good points to the different kinds of bentos. I wait excitedly for lunch time every day.