Page 321 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide: Japan

318  TR A VELERS ’ NEEDS WHERE T O EA T AND DRINK  319

The Bento Box

A bento is a take-home meal in a compartmentalized box: office
workers buy them for lunch, schoolchildren eat from them at their
desk, and business travelers have them with a beer on the bullet train.
In its neat, individual compartments there will invariably be a large
portion of rice, a main serving of meat or fish, pieces of omelet, some
vegetables, and a selection of pickles. But part of the charm of the
bento is that anything goes. It is not uncommon to open a bento and
find a small octopus or a tiny whole fish gazing up at you, or even
something that completely defies identification.
Gari (slices of pickled ginger)
Pickled Tamagoyaki Sake (salmon)
daikon Tempura (omelet)
radish Hijiki
(seaweed)

Grilled salmon

Rice with black sesame Umeboshi (pickled plums) Nishime (simmered vegetables)
Typical selection of food to be found in a bento box
In the Bento Box
Agedofu Fried tofu. Kurage Jellyfish.
Chikuwa Tubular steamed Maguro sashimi Tuna sashimi.
fishcakes. Negi Salad onion, used for flavoring
Furikake Variety of condiments and garnish.
to add extra flavor, including Niku-dango Miniature meatballs.
nori (seaweed) flakes and
toasted sesame seeds. Onigiri Triangles of rice with
various fillings.
Jako Miniature whole dried
fish. Saba sashimi Mackerel sashimi.
Kabocha Squash, often served Takenoko Bamboo shoots.
simmered.
Tonkatsu Deep-fried breaded pork.
Konnyaku Gelatinous paste Tsukemono Pickled vegetables.
made from Devil’s Tongue (similar
to sweet potato). Umeboshi Pickled plum.
Korokke Croquettes filled Unagi Grilled eel in black Japanese student eating lunch from
with potato and meat. bean sauce. a bento box

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