Meaning of bento box | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A partitioned, traditionally lacquered, lunchbox in which a bento (“Japanese takeaway lunch”) is served.
2. Synonym of bento (“a Japanese takeaway lunch served in a box”).

Equivalents

Examples

“My heart was filled with covetousness as I saw the fine old lacquer bento boxes which they produced after carefully removing many silk wrappings.”

“At every important station, boys walk along the platform carrying large trays and shouting "Bento," (prolong the o). The hungry traveler opens the window and buys a neat parcel, consisting of two wooden boxes and a long narrow envelope [containing chopsticks]. […] One of the wooden boxes is full of cold boiled rice. The other contains an assortment of things, usually including fish and pickles. To name the contents of a bento''' box and tell what each thing is made of requires an extensive knowledge of Japanese cookery.”

“Of all the eccentric characters in Japan, one of the most famous and distinguished is probably Viscount Dr. Inajiro Tajiri, president of the imperial board of audit. […] His food is of the simplest variety. He daily carries to the office a bento box filled with rice and some pickled plums, and during the past 40 years he has ever stuck to his Spartan lunch.”

“For twenty cents apiece, Kato bought us three bento boxes. They are oblong and shallow, and made of thin, light-colored wood. One part contained hot rice, another cold vegetables, meats, broiled fish, a bit of omelette, and pickled sea-weed. Chopsticks came with it.”

“Replacing a mass-appeal menu, the hotel's interiors now suit subtler tastes. Like a lacquered bento box, the Zenlike hotel offers an array of delights imbued with natural color and texture, all contained in interlocking enclosures. It's a sampler of varied moods, functions, and materials—spare vignettes forming a harmonious whole.”

“Other bentō boxes are made like Russian dolls: five separate boxes that fit snugly inside one another for storage. The workmanship of bentō boxes shows the pride that their owners placed in these containers and in creating the proper ambiance when taking a prepared meal on trips outside the home.”

“Without waste or excess, Kōsuke's daily life was one of material sparseness and deep contentedness. […] He made use of empty bentō boxes, and soap and shampoo left by someone at the public bath, repurposed an empty milk carton as a flower vase, and repaired objects that were broken.”

“Home-cooked food is all the more prized by the Japanese, especially in its presentation, whether on the dinner table or in the bentō box (a personalized, compartmentalized lunch box).”

“[M]arvelous vegetable sushi—slivers of cucumber and carrot and threads of ginger rolled in cooked rice, then in leaves of seaweed and dusted with roasted white sesame seeds—which I ate one evening at Anzu, a restaurant that serves, to Dallas's satisfaction, its bento''' boxes with a Texas twang.”

“NAGANO […] Bento boxes are a great value, and there is a full sushi bar as well.”

“At the time there were dining cars, and bento boxes were sold on board for those not using the restaurant. Today, sadly, no bento boxes (the meal in a box with chopsticks and a large selection of tasty morsels with enough rice to ensure a full stomach) are available on the trains. […] Until last year, the famous bento boxes were dispensed from trolleys by friendly waitresses on the trains. But they now have to be bought at the station kiosks.”

“Other bentō boxes are made like Russian dolls: five separate boxes that fit snugly inside one another for storage. The workmanship of bentō boxes shows the pride that their owners placed in these containers and in creating the proper ambiance when taking a prepared meal on trips outside the home.”

“Without waste or excess, Kōsuke's daily life was one of material sparseness and deep contentedness. […] He made use of empty bentō boxes, and soap and shampoo left by someone at the public bath, repurposed an empty milk carton as a flower vase, and repaired objects that were broken.”

“Home-cooked food is all the more prized by the Japanese, especially in its presentation, whether on the dinner table or in the bentō box (a personalized, compartmentalized lunch box).”

CEFR level