I got a Bento Box
My daughter returned from Japan after being away for a year at University. She brought a gift for me. She got me a Bento Box. A Bento box? What’s a Bento box? I had never heard of them before.
Wikipedia describes a Bento box as a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal which is common in Japan. A Bento Box is the Japanese equivalent of Tupperware. Bento boxes have been in use since the late 1100s. You can get many shapes and sizes of boxes. They can be disposable, hand made or mass produced. You can buy one in many different kinds of stores in Japan.
My daughter wanted me to replace my old famaliar lunch dishes with something new.
Bento Boxes are not so common here in Halifax. A quick search on Google found an entry for Hamachi House 
Fine Japanese Cuisine which offers meals in Bento boxes.
The Bento Box that she got me has two compartments, one is 1 cup in size and the other is 1½ cups in size. There is also space under the lid to add some treats.
Change is scary
I have been using Tupperware containers to take my lunch with me to work for many many years. My daughter was asking me to change, try something different. I don’t know if that is a good idea. I am really comfortable with my Tupperware containers. I know how they work. I know the limitations of my old containers.
This new container looks kind of scary to me. It is quite different. It has lots of parts. It has multiple containers and it even comes with chopsticks.
The Tupperware container is so familiar and comfortable. Should I try something new or stay with something comfortable.
My daughter brought me the gift, well … I guess I will have to give it a try.
What I found
So we (mostly Shirley) put together a lunch using the Bento box. The main course (rice, liver, vegetables, gravy) in the large container and fresh vegetables in the smaller compartment. Under the lid were chocolate covered nuts. Quite the variety in a very small space.
There was lots of food for lunch and each type of food was kept in it’s own compartment. The lunch was great and there was lots of it.
I really like the change to the Bento box and will continue to use it for lunch.
What does this have to do with Mysore style classes
I recently wrote a series of articles about going to your first Mysore class and how that can be so scary. Its scary mostly because it is something new and unknown. It is different from the led classes that most people take in a class. This is very similar to my trying a new style of lunch dishes.
Trying something new, although scary at first can bring you many new rewards. Besides if it does not work out you have two choices:
- Give up and go back to the comfortable led classes that we are already comfortable with.
- Talk to the teacher about what is making you uncomfortable with the Mysore style class. Perhaps they can help understand the change and address the discomfort.
