Before and After

So I call myself Bento Mom, but that really is a misnomer. I'm not Japanese, nor do I play a Japanese person on television. I have never been closer to Japan than Little Tokyo. What I have done is read up on bento and find lunch ideas that work for me. I'm not into the fancy "painting with food" bentos, but I do like the skill of using what you were going to send for lunch anyway and making it look special. For example:

Everyone in our house is still sick, so the one person leaving the house gets leftovers for lunch, in this case some roasted cauliflower and potatoes with a devilled egg. It tastes good, but it's all so--beige. The paprika on the egg helps, but not much. I have met children who eat only foods in the white/tan/beige color (or lack-of-color) spectrum. For such people, this is an ideal lunch. To me, though, this lunch looks like a container of leftovers. If you would like to convey more intentionality and thought, you can punch it up with very little effort:

This is the same lunch, still made with food that happens to be in the fridge. It's not the height of bento, but it is a big improvement over the previous presentation. It took about one extra minute to put the cauliflower in a contrasting silicone cup, slice half a carrot, and add some pickled green beans and a cilantro leaf. Foods in the dark green and the red/orange spectrums add visual interest. Other red foods that work well and are often handy include cherry tomatoes, cooked beets, red peppers, strawberries, little cheeses in red wax, dried cranberries or a few grapes. Green foods can be any edible leaf, green beans, edamame, cooked lima beans, green peppers, or cucumber slices with some peel left on. Sprinkles can include toasted sesame seeds, crushed nori, or finely scrambled egg. Pickled vegetables like gherkins, olives or pimentos are easy to keep on hand and can effectively break up a vast expanse of beige.

If I can get metaphysical for a second, one way people know you care about them (for good or for ill) is when you give them your attention. Although composed of virtually the same foods in the same about of time, the second presentation conveys a sense that someone paid attention to the lunch bearer's dining experience. That is the most nourishing thing in the box.