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Bento Boxes: Japanese Meals on the Go
This book offers an elegant way to enjoy delicious, healthy food on the run. Includes more than 40 main dish recipes and step-by-step illustrations.
64 pages, Paperback
First published September 28, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
January 12, 2014
This is a translation of a popular Japanese cookbook, written for people who live in Japan and have access to all the ingredients. If you're lucky enough to live in a city with abundant Asian ingredients, you'll be able to replicate the recipes with no trouble. However, if like me you live in a city with one Asian supermarket, you will need a good deal of cooking experience and confidence to make substitutions for things you simply can't get hold of, knowing as you do so that it won't be authentic.
I bought this book secondhand from Amazon, and I'm glad I didn't pay more than the couple of pounds it cost. It's more like a magazine than a cookbook, printed on slick paper with a very flimsy magazine-paper cover, not carboard. Lovely photographs, and there are lots of recipes considering the number of pages, but it's very thin (about 65pp). There is no discussion of ingredients, or what they taste like (which could guide the non-Japanese cook to a possible substitute). Very little is said of cooking techniques, aside from one very good nigiri tutorial. No equivalents or substitutions are offered, because the author was writing for a Japanese audience. My greatest complaint is the total lack of an ingredient/recipe index. There's a sort of "table of contents" in the front but look in vain for a traditional back-of-book index. As a translator myself I know these are often cut out of a translation order, leaving it to the publisher to add it later...and it often gets left out entirely.
We can only hope that Japanese cuisine will take off in Europe as Indian cuisine has in recent years, making more ingredients available to more people. For now, I will stop buying Bento cookbooks, as I see mostly variations on the same recipes repeated in the three books I have from different authors, published at different times. A word of advice for the beginning Bento cook. Start with The Just Bento Cookbook: Everyday Lunches To Go, and when you get some experience you can branch out more comfortably.
I bought this book secondhand from Amazon, and I'm glad I didn't pay more than the couple of pounds it cost. It's more like a magazine than a cookbook, printed on slick paper with a very flimsy magazine-paper cover, not carboard. Lovely photographs, and there are lots of recipes considering the number of pages, but it's very thin (about 65pp). There is no discussion of ingredients, or what they taste like (which could guide the non-Japanese cook to a possible substitute). Very little is said of cooking techniques, aside from one very good nigiri tutorial. No equivalents or substitutions are offered, because the author was writing for a Japanese audience. My greatest complaint is the total lack of an ingredient/recipe index. There's a sort of "table of contents" in the front but look in vain for a traditional back-of-book index. As a translator myself I know these are often cut out of a translation order, leaving it to the publisher to add it later...and it often gets left out entirely.
We can only hope that Japanese cuisine will take off in Europe as Indian cuisine has in recent years, making more ingredients available to more people. For now, I will stop buying Bento cookbooks, as I see mostly variations on the same recipes repeated in the three books I have from different authors, published at different times. A word of advice for the beginning Bento cook. Start with The Just Bento Cookbook: Everyday Lunches To Go, and when you get some experience you can branch out more comfortably.
July 18, 2018
Okay recipes, but ingredients might be hard to come by.
June 20, 2012
Bento boxes are still a relatively unknown entity outside of Japan and the aficionado of Japanese cuisine. Yet slowly more-and-more non-Japanese are beginning to enjoy this particular lunch box cuisine that can contain rather a lot of fresh, easy-to-make Japanese goodness. Boy, can it look pretty too!
This book, despite being published quite a few years ago, still manages to pack a real punch and give a great, authentic introduction to typical Bento box contents. Sadly it does not go into whys-and-whatfors of Bento boxing, its history, their use, their procurement and so on. For that you are on your own and Google can surely be your friend! What you do get though, in this relatively thin, richly illustrated book is an insight into just easy it can be to make your own dishes, whether for consumption at home or inclusion in a Bento box or two. The book can also act as a great introduction to many Japanese dishes - both as a chef and as a consumer of same.
The recipes do not assume any specific knowledge or expertise in preparing Japanese cuisine - the book just proceeds in a relative matter-of-fact manner, focussing on the preparation of the individual dishes. Focussing on the important things has paid off here. Concise and to the point, yet the reader does not feel left on their own. Just looking through the book was incredibly enlightening and made this reviewer rather inspired to try some recipes at home, even if they never see the insides of a Bento box.
Yet, should you be fed up of the same old lunches at school or work and want to experiment a little, there will be quite a few delights here awaiting you. When you look at many pictures of Bento boxes you could be forgiven for thinking that there is no way you could do that at home. With this book at your side you WILL be able to do that and more.
Even if Bento boxes or Japanese food has not been something you have thought of trying before, take a closer look at his book and prepare to have your perceptions and interests changed.
Bento Boxes: Japanese Meals on the Go, written by Naomi Kijima and published by Japan Publications Trading Co. ISBN 9784889960730, 64 pages. Typical price: GBP10. YYYYY.
// This review appeared in YUM.fi and is reproduced here in full with permission of YUM.fi. YUM.fi celebrates the worldwide diversity of food and drink, as presented through the humble book. Whether you call it a cookery book, cook book, recipe book or something else (in the language of your choice) YUM will provide you with news and reviews of the latest books on the marketplace. //
This book, despite being published quite a few years ago, still manages to pack a real punch and give a great, authentic introduction to typical Bento box contents. Sadly it does not go into whys-and-whatfors of Bento boxing, its history, their use, their procurement and so on. For that you are on your own and Google can surely be your friend! What you do get though, in this relatively thin, richly illustrated book is an insight into just easy it can be to make your own dishes, whether for consumption at home or inclusion in a Bento box or two. The book can also act as a great introduction to many Japanese dishes - both as a chef and as a consumer of same.
The recipes do not assume any specific knowledge or expertise in preparing Japanese cuisine - the book just proceeds in a relative matter-of-fact manner, focussing on the preparation of the individual dishes. Focussing on the important things has paid off here. Concise and to the point, yet the reader does not feel left on their own. Just looking through the book was incredibly enlightening and made this reviewer rather inspired to try some recipes at home, even if they never see the insides of a Bento box.
Yet, should you be fed up of the same old lunches at school or work and want to experiment a little, there will be quite a few delights here awaiting you. When you look at many pictures of Bento boxes you could be forgiven for thinking that there is no way you could do that at home. With this book at your side you WILL be able to do that and more.
Even if Bento boxes or Japanese food has not been something you have thought of trying before, take a closer look at his book and prepare to have your perceptions and interests changed.
Bento Boxes: Japanese Meals on the Go, written by Naomi Kijima and published by Japan Publications Trading Co. ISBN 9784889960730, 64 pages. Typical price: GBP10. YYYYY.
// This review appeared in YUM.fi and is reproduced here in full with permission of YUM.fi. YUM.fi celebrates the worldwide diversity of food and drink, as presented through the humble book. Whether you call it a cookery book, cook book, recipe book or something else (in the language of your choice) YUM will provide you with news and reviews of the latest books on the marketplace. //
February 2, 2008
This is a great book for those wanting to create the Japanese boxed lunch known as o-bento. The foods are Japanese, but they are the foods that are already eaten by many Americans. It also is a good source of inspiration for other foods that can be put into o-bento.
For more information on o-bento, I recommend ths website:
http://lunchinabox.net/
The author posts regularly the obento that she creates for her pre-schooler, as well as her tips and tricks for doing it fast an efficiently.
For more information on o-bento, I recommend ths website:
http://lunchinabox.net/
The author posts regularly the obento that she creates for her pre-schooler, as well as her tips and tricks for doing it fast an efficiently.
May 23, 2009
Really fun but short bento box cookbook. I wish I had it in our home library. I don't have time to try any of the recipes out (or better yet, my husband should make them since he lived in Japan!) It's really made me want to run out and get a bento box of our own so I can make lovely small boxed up portions of delicious goodness! I give it three stars only because I have no idea if the recipes will be wonderful since I didn't make any. But the book is a lot of fun to look at.
January 1, 2016
BEST cookbook I own - very simple and minimalist but makes actual food rather than fusspot food. Not too inaccessible ingredients-wise and has lots of tasty combinations that are so simple I start to hate western food for not having recognised and incorporated the genius of e.g. miso eggs into everyday diet.
July 17, 2007
I am fairly new to the "bento craze," so when several people mentioned that this book was a good one, I picked it up. It has a lot of fantastic photos for inspiration, and fairly no-fuss recipes. I have really enjoyed looking at this book.
June 20, 2011
Brilliant! Tremendous variety, and not much more than the recipe and gorgeous full-color photos. You'll need other books to learn more about the methods of cooking; this book is for those who want inspiration and are ready to experiment!
July 27, 2007
I love this book! If you can find the ingredients, the recipes are easy to follow.
June 6, 2008
Very nicely laid out, lots of gorgeous photos and a really easy to follow set of instructions for each dish. All beautifully presented for a more traditional bento experience, absolute loved it!
November 27, 2008
I want a copy of this book to keep! I swear I lived off of every recipe in this book for the entire two years i was in Japan!
January 9, 2011
Lots of good ideas in this book, can't wait to try some of them out!
April 19, 2011
A fantastic book, with glorious photos and easy-to-follow instructions. I use it all the time - most of the dishes can be doubled or tripled to make complete meals.
September 11, 2013
I didn't have any expectations. Unfortunately, my allergy to shellfish ruled out a lot of the recipes.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews