Japanese Bento Meets the American Brown Lunch Bag

Few of my elementary school friends' mothers would have had the time to make intricate lunches similar in style to the Japanese Bento lunchbox. My lunchbox was primarily an assortment of prepackaged foods- with the exception being a peanut butter sandwich prepared by my mother and a piece of fruit. A cross-section of my generalized elementary school lunch box would reveal a frozen Capri Sun on the bottom, then my apple or pear, followed by the sandwich and a bag of cookies with Doritos on top.
During class on Tuesday, Andrea Arai introduced us to the history of food systems in Japan and the significance of bento as a child’s lunchbox. In addition, there were a handful of her Japanese students scattered around the classroom allowing us to gain first-hand knowledge of each other’s eating culture. One of the many aspects of bento that struck me as odd was the size of the container; all the individual components of my lunch made it quite mammoth relative to the size of a bento box. It seemed like the bento would have difficulties housing even just a sandwich. But the Japanese students said that it was the normal size.

While reflecting back on my elementary lunch experiences, I feel absolutely no regret that I wasn’t raised in the Japanese culture bento boxes. It would have been a hardship for my mother to spend 30 minutes to an hour each day racking her brain’s juices for a creative looking meal. I’m sure I wouldn’t have appreciated it relative to the amount of effort she put in it- especially if it was the norm. I’m glad that when I am a mother I won’t feel obligated and pressured by my child’s school district to make an aesthetically pleasing bento for my children. Plus, the whole environment of a school cafeteria would change if we didn’t have “Americanized” brown lunch sacks. I have fond memories of the swapping that goes on during elementary school lunch, which enhances the community and social aspects of eating. The sharing of food would be cease if everyone had the more individualized bento lunch.