Anyway, so I was at Marukai Market, a Japanese grocery store down in L.A. and became hungry. In Japan, they have packed lunches called “bento” like the ones shown above. When you go to any market in Japan, these packed lunches are everywhere and usually, there are tons of selections that often times, you have a hard time deciding which one to get. Sometimes I hear people say, I want this bento but I wish I could swap this one item for this other item…Ok, I must admit, I’ve thought that many a times as well. There is no swapping allowed! The choices we have to make in life! These bento’s often times consists of some sort of rice, veggies, and a meat item. I was craving my favorite, corrokke, on this particular day so decided to get this lunch set. Other items that were in the bento was an egg omlette that had chicken and ketchup flavored rice wrapped in it (called Chicken Rice), broccoli, Japanese pickled cucumber, carrot, potato salad, and teriyaki chicken over some shredded cabbage. When you purchase these bentos, they give you chopsticks as well as various condiments like shoyu (soy sauce) or tonkatsu sauch (thicker soy sauce similiar to worcestershire sauce). Let me just say, my lunch this day was DELICIOUS! I think I could have a bento everyday for lunch. Unlike the processed, microwave foods we have in the U.S., the Japanese have a healthier alternative that is very close to a home cooked meal.
