Hello Friends--if you landed here searching for one of those great, professional quality blogs full of adorable and nutritious bento lunches for adorable smiling children. . .ummmm, sorry. I am a bento newbie who, until the other day that is, used my cute stacking bento containers for standard--albeit occasionally pretty awesome--lunches to bring to work. You know, fruit slices in the bottom, maybe some leftover chickpeas w/red curry, plus baby spinach or kale in the top. Just some fuel for a hard working chick who tends to eat while standing at the workbench. . .nutritious? Yes. Delicious? Certainly! Attractive? Frequently. But we're not talking about little piggy faces on the cocktail weenies here--I never thought to take it that far! Until I read a tweet, and later a blog post, by the wonderful and inspirational Chef Pandita, my twitter friend and fellow #baketogether baker.
Chef Pandita challenges the Twitterverse to submit a bento box, no pressure, just to have fun with kawaii food. In her blog post she even mentioned that we could just use tupperware! Well, that took the pressure off for me for sure. I began to play with some ideas, and as some of you undoubtedly know, I love any excuse to play with all of my sharp tools.
I tried some little bunny sandwiches. Cute! I experimented with ladybugs in a garden complete with Oreo "dirt". Adorable! I made pancakes into piggies with tiny choco chips for eyes. Precious!
Every time I(with increasing pride, of course) brought my prototypes to my testing panel(also known as my 3 kids), I got reactions which were, shall we say, LESS THAN ENTHUSIASTIC! Why? I had to know. Why don't you guys like Mommy's cute lunches?!! It was the middle child who put it very succinctly. Mom, he sighed patiently, we're boys. We like BOY THINGS, like video games and superheroes. And Rock and Roll.
Adios Bento Cuteness. Bienvenido a Bento Bad Ass.
My mission: create a bento lunch that fits these three criteria:
1 .Fits(however loosely) the traditional bento perameters--fits in a box, represents balanced nutrition and is pleasing to the eye
2 .Contains items that my family will ACTUALLY EAT, i.e. no nori or grains dyed funky colors
3. Features BOY THINGS as a nod to my true audience. Think Goodbye Kitty, Hello Ramones.
It's On.
5 comments:
Love it - badass bento - Can't wait to see this challenge unfold. I have two foodie teenagers that are all about flavor and quality!
Hey Nancy! I'm SO happy you finally started your own blog!! thanks so much for the sweet mention, so glad we "met" on Twitter and can't wait to see your badass bento plus bake together posts here :D xoxo
I am so impressed that you started a blog just for #bentocutenss/#bentobadass! Can't wait to see what boy-friendly stuff you come up with!!
Thanks everybody! But. . .don't be too impressed, you haven't seen the final product :/ I am trying to have photos up by tomorrow. Rockin' the Bento. . .
Looking forward to this. Cute has its place but I dig the un-cute. My daughter likes kitty cats AND superheroes and not necessarily mixed. Okay, she makes her dinosaurs kiss, but she also makes her fisher price little people battle with explosions.
As a knitter, cake decorator, and a mom, I am always on the lookout for that which is not "girly" but fun and rocking for boys, girls, anyone.
Wishing you tons of luck and staying tuned as best I can! Will look for a twitter link...that's the easiest way for me to track blogs.
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