When Halloween time rolls around, most people get excited about costumes, or candy, or even drinking heavily. Pretty much no one ever gets excited about Halloween food (candy doesn’t count). Luckily, the Japanese have got us covered. Japanese styled bento boxes are impressive enough as they are, but the Halloween themed bentos some manage to come up with are quite impressive.
But Wait, What be this Bento Thing?
For those unfamiliar, a bento is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japan. A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables. Although bento are readily available in many places throughout Japan, it is still very common (and way more fun) for Japanese homemakers to spend time and energy creating an expertly prepared and visually pleasing lunch box.
Bento can be very elaborately arranged in styles called kyaraben and oekakiben which resemble animated characters and real people respectively. Contests are often held where bento arrangers compete for the most aesthetically pleasing arrangements.
For Your Viewing Pleasure
I hobbled around the internet a little bit and found some of the more interesting Halloween themed bento boxes for further inspection. Which one is your favorite?
Now, I don’t know about you, but I’m one of those people who packs their lunch every day because going out to eat for lunch can be a serious drain on one’s finances. However, I seriously do not have the time to make my lunches as fancy as the bento boxes above. Some of them look pretty amazing and probably took more time to make than they took to be eaten. But the power of photography has preserved them forever so that we might enjoy them.
I’m sure that not all of the above bento boxes were actually fashioned by Japanese people, but that in no way detracts from them. Food art is something that rarely gets much attention, and I think these folks deserve to be recognized an appreciated for their impressive works of art.
So tell me, which Halloween bento is your favorite? Which one looks the most appetizing? Ever made a totally rad bento box of your own? What was it? Let us know in the comments!