Cool Japan Reflection

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every year which means that around 40% of food that is made and processed in the United States ends up in the garbage. I personally find this to be saddening to know that there are places where there is no food, and every year in the US we are wasting so much which also concerns the United State’s own citizens as every year millions of Americans go without food or not knowing what the next day will bring.

Another point of reflection is the lifestyle of the parents who are socially obliged to make food for their children every day, sometimes taking many hours at night to prepare something that is presentable for their children to eat. This says a lot about the home life of these students and I agree with what Yang said in that sometimes these children do not thank their parents enough for making their food everyday for them. Although it is good that the mother that was interviewed showed some passion for the craft of making bentos and that although it is hard work it pays off in the end. I think that the students should share some responsibility in the matter of feeding themselves, when the class was asked if anyone had prepared their bento’s themselves no one raised their hands. This needs to change and would be a very useful life skill to know how to cook and is quite applicable especially to keep costs low as students head into university.

The bento box that interested me most that they had displayed on the show, was the ekiben or heatable bento that you can buy at the train stations in Japan. Heated bentos however, are sometimes hard to find because they are only stocked in convenience stores along shinkansen or bullet train railways. This is mainly because in Japan it is seen as rude to have a heated bento in a subway car as it bothers other passengers in the train who are either passed out from work/school or want to read in peace. The subway is commonly joked at by tourists to be a mobile library in Japan The technology and ingenuity behind heated bentos however, is brilliant. The way a heated bento works is by pulling a string which rips a tear in a bag of water inside the bottom of the bento, this water then mixes with calcium oxide and produces an exothermic (heat releasing) reaction. This heats up the bottom of the bento and allows even products like gyudon to be eaten hot on the go. I can also agree with Yang and Mrinal as I also enjoy my food warm and I like Mrinal’s cultural take on how in India food that is hot is considered more healthy.

I enjoyed the episode overall, I found it interesting that each member of the panel brought something different with them to show and their takes on why bento’s are cool to them. Although none of them brought the coolest thing to the show (they chose the bento box company Bento & Co.) it was still interesting to learn some of the customs of other cultures that relate to bento boxes from around the world and I would encourage anyone interested in visiting Japan to see this episode.