Bento Throughout History
Food is an integral part of all cultures and societies. How heritage and traditions approach food speaks volumes about the morals and values of a community, defining culture itself and dictating how a people develop through the ages. Japanese civilization has created food masterpieces for all of history and one of them is Obento or Bento. Although this is a foreign word to most countries outside of Japan the concept is well know in its own way in all nations. Bento is simply a meal packed in a lunch box. However, bento has transcended just lunch box status. It has evolved into food creations with elaborate ascetically pleasing arrangements, a means to healthy food choices and lifestyle choices, a cultural phenomenome around the world and a status symbol.
Many portable lunch containers were utilized before the bento box was created, “everyday lunch containers included large leaves, leather pouches, linen sacks, woven straw envelopes, wicker baskets, and round wooden buckets” (Ekuan, 2000, p. 188). Several sources I researched conflict about when bento inception first developed in Japan. One Source even believes that they can be traced back to the 5th century when the people were leaving their houses to work the land, hunt and gather, or even to war and take up arms against other Japanese city-states. However, most scholars agree that the practice and cultural tradition of obento took root in Japanese culture during the twelfth century at the “tail-end of Japan’s Kamakura Period (1185 to 1333)”(Salyers, 2008b, p. 6). the course of the Kamakura Period Hoshi-ii (literally, "dried meal") was developed. Throughout this period bento primarily contained Hoshi-ii. Hoshi-ii most commonly contains cooked and dried rice that was later rehydrated with boiled water and was carried in a small bag (Ngoc, 2010). According to a BBC article about the history of obento,
One of Japan's oldest historic records, Nihon Shoki's Chronicles of Japan describes how falconers used to use feed sacks to carry their lunch in as they went out hawking. And Ise Monogatari's 10th Century collection of lyrical stories, Tales of Ise contains illustrations of people eating dried (either uncooked, or rehydrated later with hot or cold water) rice during trips (“Bento,” 2003)
Because rice is a staple grain in so many cultures it is no surprise that it was and still is the foundation of obento.
When Japan left the Kamakura Period into the Edo Period (1603 to 1867) a middle class emerged from the spread of culture, surge of education, agricultural and food security, and a prosperous growing economy the practice of obento evolved to suit more refined tastes. From this prosperity accessibility to travel and sightsee for recreation made bento expand as widespread convenience,
in the Edo Period, when peace reigned over the county, commoners began traveling for pleasure and going to the theater, diversions for which the bento was ideally suited. There appeared “blossom-viewing” and “theater” bento. Typical ingredients were rice balls, pickles, bamboo shoot, mushroom, chestnut, and seafood (Sugawara, 1994, p. 32).
Koshibentō (a bento that hung from the waist bento) was ideal for travelers and was comprised of the most famous and popular bento food of all: onigiri (round or triangular rice balls). Throughout the Edo Period the most sought after and desirable type of bento was the makuno-uchi lunchbox (between-act bento). Tourists, vacationers, and supporters of the arts that went to enjoy Noh and Kabuki performances ate especially notable bento prepared specifically for intermissions between maku (acts). Recently there has been a revival of the books, recipes, and elaborate packing ascetics from this era in high-end Japanese restaurants (Lucks, 2001). The arrangement of bento during this time hovered in a state of dualistic tension between food shapes, sizes, tastes, and textures but in this tautness there could be found unity that transcended multiplicity into a feast of oneness.
For the Japanese aristocracy bento boxes were rich and detailed. Bentos were decorated with complicated designs depicting tranquil landscapes and iconic figures of grace and poise. These lunchboxes were expensive and sophisticated priced passions of the upper class and were embellished with deep hued lacquer, inlayed with precious metals such as gold and silver and adorned with mother-of pear accents. During the Noh and Kabuki intermissions affluent audience members marked their status by socializing with famous performers while eating bento (Ekuan, 2000, p. 190).
In stark contrast to these elaborate bento lunch feasts were the deliberately straightforward and one could argue utilitarian bentos in the monastic Zen community. Different from the first bento festivities that popularized bento a formal and ritualized bento commemoration occurred during traditional Japanese tea ceremony. The bento meal accompanying contemplative and ritualistic tea ceremonies has been termed kaiseki ryori which literal meaning is “ stone in the stomachband.” This refers to the practice of resting a warm stone on one’s stomach during periods of hunger when no food was available. As a Zen concept it changed to convey a warming meal that was just enough to satiate immediate hunger. According to author Kenji Ekuan, author of The Aesthetics of The Japanese Lunchbox,
As stated in the text, the great perfecter of the tea ceremony Sen-no-Rikyu is credited with adapting the kaiseki banquet style to the tea ceremony during the late 1570s. The present form and style in terms of both content and box shape were reached during the eighteen century. The main difference between lunchboxes for theatre goers and for picnics and the tea ceremony lunchbox style is the gorgeousness and plentifulness of the former as opposed to the austere elegance of the latter” ( 2000, p. 191).
The bentos used in kaiseki are generally rectangular but the preferred moon-shaped bento favored of Sen-no-Rikyu is also used alongside round, fan-shaped, and oblong bento lunchboxes(Ekuan, 2000, p. 192). Since this sacred initiation of bento into Buddhist spirituality the bento has been incorporated into many ceremonies both sacred and secular.
Although the bento became widespread in Japan throughout the course of the Edo Period it was not until the Meiji Period (1868-1912) that the bento became an icon of convenience for all travelers,
The first station lunchbox appeared with the opening of the new railway line that linked Tokyo’s Ueno Station with Utsunomiya in 1885. It was quite a simple affair containing two wrapped rice balls flavored with pikled plum (umeboshi) and covered with grilled sesame seeks, with a couple of slices of radish pickle (takuan), the whole wrapped in a piece of bamboo bark, and sold for five sen, or a few pennies (Ekuan, 2000, p. 193).
Depending on the occasion many or single tiered bentos are used. The first station bento had only a single tier for function and accessibility but in the passed bentos with three stacked layers were the tradition. However by the end of World War I two-tiered bento lunchboxes became more popular then as fashioned changed after World War-II and presumably because of economic strife bentos reduced again to a single-tier arrangement. A more utilitarian aluminum bento lunchbox arose to popularity during the Taisho Period (1912- 1926) during World War I. Many considered it a lavish bento box because of it’s shiny polished surface and the ease of maintenance and cleaning (Ngoc, 2010). The invention of the microwave, large grocery stores, and mass-produced bento boxes created a boom in bento accessibility.
Bento in modern post-war culture has transformed into a whole new creature influenced by pop-culture, international foods, and the growing middle-class to name a few. Today bento lunchboxes can be seen at work, school, come prepackaged at stores and vendors, or at sit-down restaurants. Bento lunchboxes now come in a wide variety of materials spanning different types of plastics, aluminum, and wood. Bento box shapes vary but are usually rectangular and highly portable. Bento enthusiast, Ngoc, from cookingcute.com remarks,
Designer bento boxes, and boxes decorated with popular characters such Hello Kitty, also are popular. Bento boxes often come with matching chopsticks, silverware, and carrying pouches called kinchaku or large cloths called furoshiki used to wrap everything up. There are styles designed for women, businessmen, boys, and girls – a little something for everyone! (Ngoc, 2010)
Bento has always been a symbol of a person’s social status, wealth, and influence. Bento boxes have become very competitive between the some of the parents who spend hours constructing them and between children who are vying for popularity (Salyers, 2008, p. 5).
The rules of style and order are especially important in the preparation of a child’s obento. Although obento have become popular among working women and men, the largest consumers by far are children. It has become a social-norm for mothers to spend up to 45 minutes per obento every morning for each child’s lunch. These so-called “school-bento” start when a child is in pre-school and they play a large part in the socialization of both children and mothers (lucks).
Charaben or character bento is the most favored among school children. Charaben designs and shapes food into friendly inviting shapes like flowers, animals and especially manga personalities. This style of bento is an amazing fusion of pop-culture and the rich Japanese culinary tradition. Author of Face Food: The Visual Creativity of Japanese Bento Boxes, Christopher D. Salyers, explains
Frequently dubbed “too gorgeous to even eat,” every character bento is arranged to resemble something other than that plain old sandwich, rice ball or salad. They are borne out of the rampant popularity of movies, television shows and manga pages, sculpted only after years of practice and hours of preparation on the part of the (mostly) mother assembling this face food” ( 2008, p. 5).
Charaben has become a cultural phenomenon that has emerged to fame and almost cultish sub-culture status all over the world.
Bento lunch boxes have a life of their own and although their history will always be rooted in Japanese history and culture they have transcended national boundaries into a lifestyle or philosophy. Bento embodies aesthetics and beauty, the complex and mundane, politics, socio-economics, love and joy. Obento’s transient nature gives it a lingering grace that bestows the eater with not only the food of life but the meaning of life itself.
Bibliography
Author Ekuan, K. (2000). The Aesthetics of the Japanese Lunchbox. The MIT Press.
Bento: Japanese Food. (July 28, 2003). Accessed May 21, 2010. < http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1084655>
Lucks, E. (December 2001) Eating Our Way Through Japanese History—A Brief Study of the Obento.
Jes. (September 14th, 2009). Bento: The Japanese Art of Lunch. Accessed May 21, 2010. < http://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/2009/09/14/bento-the-japanese-art-of-lunch/>
Ngoc. History of Bento. Accessed May 21, 2010. <http://www.cookingcute.com/history_of_bento.htm>
Salyers, C. D. (2008). Face Food: The Visual Creativity of Japanese Bento Boxes. Mark Batty Publisher.
Sugawara, M. (1994). The Buddha and the bento : Japanese culture and cuisine. Tokyo: The East Publications.
Many portable lunch containers were utilized before the bento box was created, “everyday lunch containers included large leaves, leather pouches, linen sacks, woven straw envelopes, wicker baskets, and round wooden buckets” (Ekuan, 2000, p. 188). Several sources I researched conflict about when bento inception first developed in Japan. One Source even believes that they can be traced back to the 5th century when the people were leaving their houses to work the land, hunt and gather, or even to war and take up arms against other Japanese city-states. However, most scholars agree that the practice and cultural tradition of obento took root in Japanese culture during the twelfth century at the “tail-end of Japan’s Kamakura Period (1185 to 1333)”(Salyers, 2008b, p. 6). the course of the Kamakura Period Hoshi-ii (literally, "dried meal") was developed. Throughout this period bento primarily contained Hoshi-ii. Hoshi-ii most commonly contains cooked and dried rice that was later rehydrated with boiled water and was carried in a small bag (Ngoc, 2010). According to a BBC article about the history of obento,
One of Japan's oldest historic records, Nihon Shoki's Chronicles of Japan describes how falconers used to use feed sacks to carry their lunch in as they went out hawking. And Ise Monogatari's 10th Century collection of lyrical stories, Tales of Ise contains illustrations of people eating dried (either uncooked, or rehydrated later with hot or cold water) rice during trips (“Bento,” 2003)
Because rice is a staple grain in so many cultures it is no surprise that it was and still is the foundation of obento.
When Japan left the Kamakura Period into the Edo Period (1603 to 1867) a middle class emerged from the spread of culture, surge of education, agricultural and food security, and a prosperous growing economy the practice of obento evolved to suit more refined tastes. From this prosperity accessibility to travel and sightsee for recreation made bento expand as widespread convenience,
in the Edo Period, when peace reigned over the county, commoners began traveling for pleasure and going to the theater, diversions for which the bento was ideally suited. There appeared “blossom-viewing” and “theater” bento. Typical ingredients were rice balls, pickles, bamboo shoot, mushroom, chestnut, and seafood (Sugawara, 1994, p. 32).
Koshibentō (a bento that hung from the waist bento) was ideal for travelers and was comprised of the most famous and popular bento food of all: onigiri (round or triangular rice balls). Throughout the Edo Period the most sought after and desirable type of bento was the makuno-uchi lunchbox (between-act bento). Tourists, vacationers, and supporters of the arts that went to enjoy Noh and Kabuki performances ate especially notable bento prepared specifically for intermissions between maku (acts). Recently there has been a revival of the books, recipes, and elaborate packing ascetics from this era in high-end Japanese restaurants (Lucks, 2001). The arrangement of bento during this time hovered in a state of dualistic tension between food shapes, sizes, tastes, and textures but in this tautness there could be found unity that transcended multiplicity into a feast of oneness.
For the Japanese aristocracy bento boxes were rich and detailed. Bentos were decorated with complicated designs depicting tranquil landscapes and iconic figures of grace and poise. These lunchboxes were expensive and sophisticated priced passions of the upper class and were embellished with deep hued lacquer, inlayed with precious metals such as gold and silver and adorned with mother-of pear accents. During the Noh and Kabuki intermissions affluent audience members marked their status by socializing with famous performers while eating bento (Ekuan, 2000, p. 190).
In stark contrast to these elaborate bento lunch feasts were the deliberately straightforward and one could argue utilitarian bentos in the monastic Zen community. Different from the first bento festivities that popularized bento a formal and ritualized bento commemoration occurred during traditional Japanese tea ceremony. The bento meal accompanying contemplative and ritualistic tea ceremonies has been termed kaiseki ryori which literal meaning is “ stone in the stomachband.” This refers to the practice of resting a warm stone on one’s stomach during periods of hunger when no food was available. As a Zen concept it changed to convey a warming meal that was just enough to satiate immediate hunger. According to author Kenji Ekuan, author of The Aesthetics of The Japanese Lunchbox,
As stated in the text, the great perfecter of the tea ceremony Sen-no-Rikyu is credited with adapting the kaiseki banquet style to the tea ceremony during the late 1570s. The present form and style in terms of both content and box shape were reached during the eighteen century. The main difference between lunchboxes for theatre goers and for picnics and the tea ceremony lunchbox style is the gorgeousness and plentifulness of the former as opposed to the austere elegance of the latter” ( 2000, p. 191).
The bentos used in kaiseki are generally rectangular but the preferred moon-shaped bento favored of Sen-no-Rikyu is also used alongside round, fan-shaped, and oblong bento lunchboxes(Ekuan, 2000, p. 192). Since this sacred initiation of bento into Buddhist spirituality the bento has been incorporated into many ceremonies both sacred and secular.
Although the bento became widespread in Japan throughout the course of the Edo Period it was not until the Meiji Period (1868-1912) that the bento became an icon of convenience for all travelers,
The first station lunchbox appeared with the opening of the new railway line that linked Tokyo’s Ueno Station with Utsunomiya in 1885. It was quite a simple affair containing two wrapped rice balls flavored with pikled plum (umeboshi) and covered with grilled sesame seeks, with a couple of slices of radish pickle (takuan), the whole wrapped in a piece of bamboo bark, and sold for five sen, or a few pennies (Ekuan, 2000, p. 193).
Depending on the occasion many or single tiered bentos are used. The first station bento had only a single tier for function and accessibility but in the passed bentos with three stacked layers were the tradition. However by the end of World War I two-tiered bento lunchboxes became more popular then as fashioned changed after World War-II and presumably because of economic strife bentos reduced again to a single-tier arrangement. A more utilitarian aluminum bento lunchbox arose to popularity during the Taisho Period (1912- 1926) during World War I. Many considered it a lavish bento box because of it’s shiny polished surface and the ease of maintenance and cleaning (Ngoc, 2010). The invention of the microwave, large grocery stores, and mass-produced bento boxes created a boom in bento accessibility.
Bento in modern post-war culture has transformed into a whole new creature influenced by pop-culture, international foods, and the growing middle-class to name a few. Today bento lunchboxes can be seen at work, school, come prepackaged at stores and vendors, or at sit-down restaurants. Bento lunchboxes now come in a wide variety of materials spanning different types of plastics, aluminum, and wood. Bento box shapes vary but are usually rectangular and highly portable. Bento enthusiast, Ngoc, from cookingcute.com remarks,
Designer bento boxes, and boxes decorated with popular characters such Hello Kitty, also are popular. Bento boxes often come with matching chopsticks, silverware, and carrying pouches called kinchaku or large cloths called furoshiki used to wrap everything up. There are styles designed for women, businessmen, boys, and girls – a little something for everyone! (Ngoc, 2010)
Bento has always been a symbol of a person’s social status, wealth, and influence. Bento boxes have become very competitive between the some of the parents who spend hours constructing them and between children who are vying for popularity (Salyers, 2008, p. 5).
The rules of style and order are especially important in the preparation of a child’s obento. Although obento have become popular among working women and men, the largest consumers by far are children. It has become a social-norm for mothers to spend up to 45 minutes per obento every morning for each child’s lunch. These so-called “school-bento” start when a child is in pre-school and they play a large part in the socialization of both children and mothers (lucks).
Charaben or character bento is the most favored among school children. Charaben designs and shapes food into friendly inviting shapes like flowers, animals and especially manga personalities. This style of bento is an amazing fusion of pop-culture and the rich Japanese culinary tradition. Author of Face Food: The Visual Creativity of Japanese Bento Boxes, Christopher D. Salyers, explains
Frequently dubbed “too gorgeous to even eat,” every character bento is arranged to resemble something other than that plain old sandwich, rice ball or salad. They are borne out of the rampant popularity of movies, television shows and manga pages, sculpted only after years of practice and hours of preparation on the part of the (mostly) mother assembling this face food” ( 2008, p. 5).
Charaben has become a cultural phenomenon that has emerged to fame and almost cultish sub-culture status all over the world.
Bento lunch boxes have a life of their own and although their history will always be rooted in Japanese history and culture they have transcended national boundaries into a lifestyle or philosophy. Bento embodies aesthetics and beauty, the complex and mundane, politics, socio-economics, love and joy. Obento’s transient nature gives it a lingering grace that bestows the eater with not only the food of life but the meaning of life itself.
Bibliography
Author Ekuan, K. (2000). The Aesthetics of the Japanese Lunchbox. The MIT Press.
Bento: Japanese Food. (July 28, 2003). Accessed May 21, 2010. < http://www.bbc.co.uk/dna/h2g2/A1084655>
Lucks, E. (December 2001) Eating Our Way Through Japanese History—A Brief Study of the Obento.
Jes. (September 14th, 2009). Bento: The Japanese Art of Lunch. Accessed May 21, 2010. < http://www.altalang.com/beyond-words/2009/09/14/bento-the-japanese-art-of-lunch/>
Ngoc. History of Bento. Accessed May 21, 2010. <http://www.cookingcute.com/history_of_bento.htm>
Salyers, C. D. (2008). Face Food: The Visual Creativity of Japanese Bento Boxes. Mark Batty Publisher.
Sugawara, M. (1994). The Buddha and the bento : Japanese culture and cuisine. Tokyo: The East Publications.