Bento Boxes: Japanese Meals on the Go
by Naomi Kijima
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Book Reviews of Bento Boxes: Japanese Meals on the Go
Book Review: Tasty ideas and colourful pictures to boot!
Summary: 5 Stars
This book reached far beyond my expectations. All the recipes are very simple and require only about 3 main ingredients. It is very versatile for cooks in all regions of the world (a part of the introduction actually says "If you cannot find the ingredients, use what you have as long as they're the same general colour and texture") - it really emphasizes what Japanese cooking is all about - style and presentation of incredibly tasty foods.About the only drawback to the book is that it's so brief! After paging through it, I wanted more! Every recipe has a full colour photograph accompanying it, and some even have smaller photos of the steps to making the food. My boyfriend can't cook at all, and even he was able to make things from this book.
This is a must-buy for anyone looking to make their lunches a little more interesting or to inject a little Japanese flair into their cooking. :)
Book Review: bento boxes made easy
Summary: 4 Stars
This is well planned out. and it actually helps you plan out your boxes. Although the bento display is not as creative or cute as some would like it, the dishes themselves are fantastic. A great addition to your bento box cookbook collection.
Other recommended reads:
Easy Japanese Pickling in Five Minutes to One Day: 101 Full-Color Recipes for Authentic Tsukemono
Harumi's Japanese Cooking: More than 75 Authentic and Contemporary Recipes from Japan's Most PopularCooking Expert
Harumi's Japanese Home Cooking: Simple, Elegant Recipes for Contemporary Tastes
Book Review: You couldn't get this book away from me
Summary: 5 Stars
A lot of cookbooks give you single recipes without an idea of how to make them turn into a meal. Every page of this book contains all the recipes for the pictured meal -- in some cases, more than one full meal per page.
It's a cookbook for people who've read cookbooks and appreciate information efficiency -- rather than taking the time and page space to spell out "cut the carrot into matchstick-sized pieces, approximately one-eighth-inch square by two inches long, also known as julienning," it says "julienne the carrots." So it assumes you know some basic terminology, but it's never made an assumption I haven't been familiar with.
And for most recipes, the quantities are given in single-serving amounts - ideal for me as a single person and easily scalable. I love this book.
(Full disclosure: I've semiprofessionally taught Japanese cooking classes.)
Book Review: Simple and to the point.
Summary: 3 Stars
A Bento box is to the Japanese what the brown bag lunch is to Americans. And the food inside is the same: simple, easy to make, and cheep. Though this book is short (64 pages), it is easy to follow and is accompanied by colorful photos. The recipes are short and simple to follow, most with five or fewer ingredients. Take note, you are not going to find and fancy or exquisite dishes in this book. There is no introduction or explanations for what you are doing or why you do it. Its only recipes and pictures cover to cover. Almost all of the ingredients can be found at your local megamart with a few exceptions. Pickled plum, cod roe, and burdock might be hard , if not imposable to find, but by my count the things I cant get only eliminated seven or eight recipes. And with two to five recipes per page that?s not to bad. At its cheep price and easy to make dishes I lightly recommend this book.Book Review: Best Bento book there is
Summary: 5 Stars
Actually one of two available at all - so not exactly stiff competition but still even if there were a dozen books on Bento, this would be the definitive one.
There are some odd Japanese ingredients that will need substitutes and you may not want to sprinkle whitebait or pollywog looking baby sardines in your rice but if you can get by those things, there really are some great bento recipes.
The strength of this book though is in presentation. It shows you how to do up your bento the authetic way and will quickly make you an Ebay scouring bento fool like me.
I do have to say - why on Earth is bento not a big dealio over here? The closest thing we have to it in this country are Oscar Mayer LUNCHABLES. And hey I am not knocking them! But this bento is for grown-ups. No juice box required.