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The only reason why people are obsessed with bentos is because they are pretty. Throw them together like your regular lunch sold at supermarkets no one would fi

The only reason why people are obsessed with bentos is because they are pretty. Throw them together like your regular lunch sold at supermarkets no one would find them interesting anymore.

guardiangod 7y ago
Aesthetics is as important to a product as its functionality. Here's your statement as iPod vs Normad- "The only reason why people were obsessed with the iPod is because they are pretty. Throw the play music features together like your regular MP3 players made by some generic electronic companies no one would find them interesting anymore."
olah_1 7y ago
Lunchables were the original bento box (at least for American kids). They weren't pretty, but we loved them because the little compartments for each food was cute and clever.
- bobthepanda 7y ago
  Personally, I loved them because the Lunchables, true to American stereotypes, came with a packaged sugary drink (e.g. Capri Sun) and a chocolate of some sort (e.g. Reese’s, Butterfinger). Now they make “healthier” adult ones courtesy of Boar’s Head, but Lunchables are definitely not good for you, whereas at least a bento tries to be.
mikestew 7y ago
The only reason why people are obsessed with bentos is because they are pretty. Okay, go on. :-) Agree or disagree, "presentation" is a thing. Sky is blue, people like pretty boxes of food. On the flip side, boxes that look like someone just threw them together look sad, like no one cared.
cbhl 7y ago
Taking store-bought food and adjusting the presentation to make it look homemade isn't a purely Japanese phenomenon. Even in the United States, frozen apple pie sellers will tell folks to take the pie out of the aluminum tin and put it in a glass or ceramic baking dish to make the pie look homemade. I rather appreciate how the Japanese still care about how food is presented. (I believe the idiom goes, "you eat with your eyes first.") I hope that in the pursuit of gender equality, pretty meals don't get lost the way that they have in the states.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- pfranz 7y ago
  > frozen apple pie sellers will tell folks to take the pie out of the aluminum tin and put it in a glass or ceramic baking dish to make the pie look homemade. What's even more ironic is doing that completely changes how the pie bakes, likely making the result even worse. Those heavy ceramic pie plates mean it takes longer for the pie to get up to temp and cook, often means the pie sticks to the plate, and makes it more difficult to cook the crust properly along with the pie (you could prebake the crust, but not with a frozen pie). I'm pretty sure most businesses use pie tins (foil is wasteful and structurally a poor choice). I guess the whole goal is perception and convenience, not necessarily quality.
  - derefr 7y ago
    Perhaps they mean you should bake the pie in the tin, then transfer it to the baking dish.
- bitwize 7y ago
  Japanese food art is nuts. There are specialists in the art of creating super realistic-looking fake food. This is not merely decorative, it also is set up as a display in restaurant fronts to whet the appetite and give you an idea of what's on the menu.
  - NetOpWibby 7y ago
    And boy does that make it difficult to decide where to eat.
    - wmoser 7y ago
      But also easier to order. I've taken more than one waiter outside and pointed at the plastic food.
      - 7y ago
toyg 7y ago
> The only reason why people are obsessed with bentos is because they are pretty. I beg to differ. Don't give two shits about presentation myself, but unagi bento from Japanese stations is simply excellent fast food.
nitwit005 7y ago
Our perception of food completely changes the experience. People have experimented with dying white wine red, and people tend to describe it using terms associated with red wine. Similarly, there have been some studies suggesting kids will prefer foods packaged or wrapped certain ways, as they associate the packaging with foods they like.
- xnyan 7y ago
  Not just "people", but experts in training at one of the best oenology (wine) schools in the world. it's ALL about perception and exception: https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2014/08/the_most_infamous_study_on_wine_tasting.html https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2014/08/the_most_infam...

The only reason why people are obsessed with bentos is because they are pretty. Throw them together like your regular lunch sold at supermarkets no one would find them interesting anymore.

guardiangod 7y ago

Aesthetics is as important to a product as its functionality. Here's your statement as iPod vs Normad- "The only reason why people were obsessed with the iPod is because they are pretty. Throw the play music features together like your regular MP3 players made by some generic electronic companies no one would find them interesting anymore."

olah_1 7y ago

Lunchables were the original bento box (at least for American kids). They weren't pretty, but we loved them because the little compartments for each food was cute and clever.

bobthepanda 7y ago
Personally, I loved them because the Lunchables, true to American stereotypes, came with a packaged sugary drink (e.g. Capri Sun) and a chocolate of some sort (e.g. Reese’s, Butterfinger). Now they make “healthier” adult ones courtesy of Boar’s Head, but Lunchables are definitely not good for you, whereas at least a bento tries to be.

mikestew 7y ago

The only reason why people are obsessed with bentos is because they are pretty. Okay, go on. :-) Agree or disagree, "presentation" is a thing. Sky is blue, people like pretty boxes of food. On the flip side, boxes that look like someone just threw them together look sad, like no one cared.

cbhl 7y ago

Taking store-bought food and adjusting the presentation to make it look homemade isn't a purely Japanese phenomenon. Even in the United States, frozen apple pie sellers will tell folks to take the pie out of the aluminum tin and put it in a glass or ceramic baking dish to make the pie look homemade. I rather appreciate how the Japanese still care about how food is presented. (I believe the idiom goes, "you eat with your eyes first.") I hope that in the pursuit of gender equality, pretty meals don't get lost the way that they have in the states.

deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
pfranz 7y ago
> frozen apple pie sellers will tell folks to take the pie out of the aluminum tin and put it in a glass or ceramic baking dish to make the pie look homemade. What's even more ironic is doing that completely changes how the pie bakes, likely making the result even worse. Those heavy ceramic pie plates mean it takes longer for the pie to get up to temp and cook, often means the pie sticks to the plate, and makes it more difficult to cook the crust properly along with the pie (you could prebake the crust, but not with a frozen pie). I'm pretty sure most businesses use pie tins (foil is wasteful and structurally a poor choice). I guess the whole goal is perception and convenience, not necessarily quality.
- derefr 7y ago
  Perhaps they mean you should bake the pie in the tin, then transfer it to the baking dish.
bitwize 7y ago
Japanese food art is nuts. There are specialists in the art of creating super realistic-looking fake food. This is not merely decorative, it also is set up as a display in restaurant fronts to whet the appetite and give you an idea of what's on the menu.
- NetOpWibby 7y ago
  And boy does that make it difficult to decide where to eat.
  - wmoser 7y ago
    But also easier to order. I've taken more than one waiter outside and pointed at the plastic food.
    - 7y ago

toyg 7y ago

> The only reason why people are obsessed with bentos is because they are pretty. I beg to differ. Don't give two shits about presentation myself, but unagi bento from Japanese stations is simply excellent fast food.

nitwit005 7y ago

Our perception of food completely changes the experience. People have experimented with dying white wine red, and people tend to describe it using terms associated with red wine. Similarly, there have been some studies suggesting kids will prefer foods packaged or wrapped certain ways, as they associate the packaging with foods they like.

xnyan 7y ago
Not just "people", but experts in training at one of the best oenology (wine) schools in the world. it's ALL about perception and exception: https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2014/08/the_most_infamous_study_on_wine_tasting.html https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2014/08/the_most_infam...