I’ve gotten back into making bento after letting the hobby drop for awhile. \u00a0 I tell myself it’s because I’m worried my guys won’t eat healthy lunches unless I make them. \u00a0But when it’s just grabbing a little package out of the fridge, they’ll eat what I make fairly happily.<\/p>\n
Partially, it’s selfish. \u00a0 When I’m busy during the day, if I have a bento made for myself, I’ll eat a proper lunch. \u00a0If I don’t, I snack and munch and don’t get a really good nutritional balance.<\/p>\n
However, the preference for actually having a bento has gotten pretty strong. When I was ill with a cold earlier in the week, the man of the house actually made a bento for himself and our son for the next day.<\/p>\n
I was reading a comment on a bento blog where someone was asking why in the world there was this hype about bento. \u00a0Packed lunches aren’t new! \u00a0(For that matter, neither are bento, but the person making the comment didn’t mention that).<\/p>\n
I responded that it’s a hobby. \u00a0Maybe you love knitting. \u00a0You can buy a sweater in a store for a lot less trouble than knitting one. \u00a0Maybe you like sport fishing. \u00a0You can get fish much cheaper in the market. (My brother often jokes about the $100\/lb tuna you get from deep sea fishing). \u00a0 Knitting and fishing are even older practices than bento!<\/p>\n
It’s just a hobby. \u00a0You put food in a box and make it pretty. \u00a0It’s fun. \u00a0I’ve noticed a tendency, when one has an obsessive hobby, to talk about how good for you<\/em> said hobby is. \u00a0Being out on the water lowers your blood pressure when you’re fishing. \u00a0Knitting is supposed to be as calming as yoga. \u00a0A well-designed bento is a healthy meal. \u00a0All these things are true, but lets be honest. \u00a0These things might have positive benefits, but I think that “because it’s fun<\/em>” might play a serious part in why we do them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" I’ve gotten back into making bento after letting the hobby drop for awhile. \u00a0 I tell myself it’s because I’m worried my guys won’t eat healthy lunches unless I make them. \u00a0But when it’s just grabbing a little package out of the fridge, they’ll eat what I make fairly happily. Partially, it’s selfish. \u00a0 When … <\/p>\n