Bento

A is a Japanese-style single-portion take-out or home-packed meal, often for lunch, typically including rice and packaged in a box with a lid (often a segmented box with different parts of the meal placed in different sections). Outside Japan, similar meals are common in other East and Southeast Asian culinary styles, especially within Chinese, Korean, Singaporean, Taiwanese cuisines and more, as rice is a common staple food in the region. The term ''bento'' is derived from the Chinese term ''biandang'' (, ), which means "convenient" or "convenience".

A traditional ''bento'' typically includes rice or noodles with fish or some other meat, often with pickled and cooked vegetables in a box. Containers range from mass-produced disposable containers to hand-crafted lacquerware. Dividers are often used to separate ingredients or dishes, especially those with strong flavors, to avoid them affecting the taste of the rest of the meal. A typical divider is green plastic 'sushi grass', known as ''baran'' in Japan, which also works to slow the growth of bacteria.

''Bento'' are readily available in many places throughout Japan, including convenience stores, , railway stations, and department stores. However, Japanese homemakers often spend time and energy on carefully prepared ''bento'' for their spouses, children, or themselves. Outside Japan, the term bento box may be used (e.g., on English menus for Japanese restaurants). ''Bento'' can be elaborately arranged in styles called ''kyaraben'' ("character ''bento''", typically decorated to look like popular characters from anime, manga, or video games) or ''oekakiben'' ("picture ''bento''", decorated to look like people, animals, buildings and monuments, or items such as flowers and plants). Contests are often held where ''bento'' arrangers compete for the most aesthetically attractive arrangements.

There are comparable forms of boxed lunches in other Asian countries such as in China, Taiwan and other Sinophone communities, known as ''héfàn'' (盒饭) or ''biàndāng'' in Mandarin, ''piān-tong'' in Taiwanese Hokkien, and in Korea as ''dosirak''. Other Asian countries would either just use ''bento'' as a loanword or ''hokben'', which means "steaming ''bento''". There has also been discussion regarding what ''bento'' means for Japanese society and what it represents. Analyses range from a simple semiotic approach to one that outlines the deeper ideological meanings behind ''bento''. Provided by Wikipedia