The Bento

The infamous Bento Box.  Take a good look because this is the real deal.  A beautifully orchestrated box of assorted Japanese cuisine, waiting to be meticulously pursued.  Though some might think this is merely a box-lunch, I maintain a strong argument against this simple assessment.  The Bento is much more than that, it's, a way of life...well, maybe not that extreme, but if nothing else, it does have an increasingly, intriguing dynamic...

When first being introduced to the Bento Box, it's easy to dive right in, head first and gobble up everything in your path because let's face it, the average situation where you are eating bento boxes is often after a hard morning of work.  Now, in my particular situation, the students and teachers alike eat the school lunch every day.  This usually consists of four food groups: fish or some kind of meat, rice or bread, soup and a side salad... or a side of little fish babies usually eaten by every other teacher, and guiltily thrown away by myself.  Therefore, when we are graced with the presence of the Bento, it's usually on a special occasion where all of the teachers will be eating together.  Thus begins the Bento bonanza... 

Step 1: Don't eat the most delicious thing in the box first.  You're better than that.   When you see a familiar looking food, like the small piece of fried chicken or the tasty, solidified egg that you eat in sushi restaurants, you can't fly in there out of control and knock out all of your best players before the game has even started.  Those are your boys!  And besides, that's poor management.  I cannot stress how important it is to save those go-to pieces for later. They will prove to come in handy when you need to mask the taste of an strange, white pellet that you mistook for a small potato.  

Step 2: Ration your rice.  You will have an abundance of this stuff, but don't be lavish with the amount, as it goes very quickly.  Again, you will inevitably run into tastes that you are unfamiliar with, which may cause gagging and/or spitting up.  You may harken back to your days as a toddler when you simply regurgitated unknown substances into your lap and began to cry.  In this case, you don't have to spit up anything! Instead, simply dive into your rice, and use it as a neutralizer for any unwanted tastes.  

Step 3: Constantly poke and prod.  If you are unsure of what something is, which is mostly everything in front of you, poke at it with your chopsticks.  Sometimes poke it twice.  This way, you can gauge the texture, which is very important in the world of food.  Based on whether or not it's soft, hard or slimy, you can determine how then to proceed.  Plus, if you poke into the middle of something and either gooey stuff or orange fish eggs pour out, then you won't be startled later when that egg sac explodes in your mouth.... Remember, food surprises are usually bad surprises.

And the final step: Try everything.  It really isn't as bad as you might think... I'm referring of course to the eye balls and tails that you would normally cast aside back home.  They may be crunchy, but isn't that why you came here?   To experience the crunchy texture of another culture?!  After all, it's not going to kill you... In fact, it should serve as an opposite effect, seeing as how Japanese people eat this food often and they have the 2nd highest life expectancy rate in the world! (Whereas the United States sits at 30th).  Therefore, crunch on those tentacles, slurp up those eggs and for sushi's sake, don't forget to save your rice!

Now, although this may have taken the shape of a warning, more or less, for Western food connoisseurs, it should be noted that I have grown to love Japanese cuisine, not only for it's petit portions, but also for it's array of flavors and effective use of each essential food group within the Eastern Asian area.  However, my painful breakup with greasy, American food has given me difficulties in adjusting to my new diet, which, don't get me wrong is really nice and has a great personality, but let's face it, she'll never be as hot as the former.  That being said, I'm proud to admit that the Bento Box is happily making it's way into my food love life, one grain at a time.