Healthy Lunch, The Japanese way

I hope you bear with me this week, as I share more Japanese food culture !  All the food information I am getting is from two Japanese girls, and I should add that the details here may not be true for all of Japan!

I think it’s fun to see what people eat for lunch in other countries though.  I know my kids get bored bringing the same old peanut butter and jelly sandwich to school everyday… and these girls had never tried a PB&J in their life!  Instead lunch in Japan goes like this:

• Elementary school- Always school provided lunch!  Pre-school and High school, they bring a lunch, usually in a bento box as pictured above.
• They eat soup at every single meal! EVERY SINGLE MEAL!  Breakfast, lunch, and dinner!
• School lunch for elementary school is soup, a piece of meat, rice or bread, and fruit for dessert.  They could not believe my kids when my kids said there was a cookie at school lunch every single day!
• In Elementary school, they are given milk to drink, every day.
• The above Bento lunch is typical if they brought lunch to school in high school, or went on a picnic. It included a hard boiled egg, rice, broccoli, and ham.

To make the Rice Bear Ball, Anna made small balls with warm rice, wrapped in saran wrap.  Three balls for the face and two ears were tinted with soy sauce in the rice.  The fourth ball (the mouth of the bear) she used plain rice.

Then, the facial features were made by cutting seaweed paper.  Which they were snacking on afterwards. lol

I think this is a fabulous, healthy, and delicious alternative to a sandwich for lunch! Nathan (my 11 year old) actually thinks rice and hard boiled eggs are the two greatest foods ever made (not including things with sugar)

明日は夕食ほどかかるよ！

For some super cute Bento characters, visit Pikko’s blog !