A Cute Bento Box with a Rice Bear

I have always been a fan of cute bento boxes, and when @nachoman recently sent me this link I was quite excited.

http://annathered.wordpress.com/2009/06/21/how-to-make-a-radish-mushroom/

This bento box creator took a radish and cut it up to look like the Power Up Super Mushrooms in the Super Mario video games for Nintendo (which as a child I absolutely loved to play).  They simply took a little red radish, a knife and a couple pieces of seaweed to make a very convincing little Super Mushroom.

It has been a while since I have played the video game and I am feeling a bit nostalgic.  As soon as I can get to the market to buy some radishes, I am going try making my own Super Mushroom Radish.  Actually, if I have time I might try making a little team of Super Mushrooms to put on a trek up a mountain of rice.

My Love of Bento Boxes

Bento boxes are fascinating things! Traditionally they are just a box full of various lunch foods: rice, fish and some sort of pickled vegetable, but there are so many possibilities for creativity with a bento box lunch.  Modern Bento boxes basically encourage the concept of making a lunch that looks as pleasing as it tastes. Little dumplings can be shaped like cute little pigs, simple balls of rice with pieces of seaweed carefully placed can look like miniature pandas, the possibilities are endless.  There is a huge selection of Bento Box Accessories online that include vegetable shapers, rice molding devices and even organizational boxes to separate the foods from each other.  Over the years, I have been lucky enough to have friends who can make these fun little lunch/snack boxes, and when I saw my first decorative bento box that had dumplings shaped like Hello Kitty, I fell in love with the concept.

Think about it.  Eating food that has been shaped into little animals or cartoon characters has a special sort of appeal.  Not only are you filling your stomach with yummy food, you can actually play with your food.  Even a simple bento box that doesn’t have specially shaped and cut dumplings or tofu has its’ own artistic flare.  Placing rice into a container and dumping your veggies on top, isn’t that interesting when you open your lunchbox to eat, yet if the rice is separated by carefully organized pieces of carrots, seaweed and dumplings, your meal can take on a colourful and exciting feel.  Next time you are making a boxed lunch or snack, take a page from the styles of bento boxes and throw a little artistic flare into it. You might be surprised at how much more enjoyable your meal might be.

I am planning on ordering myself some vegetable punches and cutters, to turn my veggies and rice into cute little shapes. At this Japanese Bento Box Link I found the cutest cookie cutter style devices to shape pieces of cheese and ham into little bunnies and bears.  I’m planning on ordering that and some of the other accessories that I have been dying to buy.  Of course I will be buying the Hello Kitty Sandwich Shaper. Yes, you read that right, a sandwich shaper.  You can make toast in the shape of Hello Kitty’s head. How cool is that!

Well that’s enough cutesy food discussions for now.  I’m off to go make my lunch, and since I don’t have any Hello Kitty or Bunny Rabbit Sandwich shapers (yet!), I am thinking that heart shaped sandwiches are in order.

~Deanna