I enjoy any chance to be creative :) I enjoy doing it, and I'm always happy when people enjoy looking at it.



Here are some questions (statements? complaints?) I get a lot, hopefully this helps you out. If not, flickrmail me.

You might have to copy/paste the URLs. Sorry. I goofed on code somewhere and I'll have to go back and fix it.

I'd like to use one of your photos for a blog. Is this ok?

Sure, and thank you :) All I ask is that you use flickr's "blog this" feature or otherwise link it back to my flickr account, and credit me for the image. If you absolutely can't go through flickr, please at least let me know where you plan to use it. I'm always curious about where my stuff ends up.

I'd like to use one of your photos for a publication/TV show/etc. Is this ok?

Yes, but please contact me first. I hate being the last to know, and there have been lots of places (big media outlets who should know better ) who used my work without asking or telling me. Then I find out when I start getting emails from their readers. (your readers and viewers are the most awful tattletales!) I'd be happy to work with you and even get you nicer hi-res images to use, but please ask first. Help me help you.

Blue rice is so weird. How can you eat that? I wouldn't.

Well, to tell you the absolute truth, blue rice tastes like any other rice. Because of concerns over the health of food colorings, I try to use natural colors (like India Tree, although it retains some of the flavors of the natural coloring agents) whenever I can and the blue is typically only used on "special" occasions. I don't eat blue rice all the time, but I don't see it as any worse than a blue-colored drink or candy...that is, not too horrible in moderation. Think about all of the other items out there that contain food colorings. The first time it's a little bit of a mental hurdle, but I don't have any trouble eating it, especially when I'm hungry.

And if you find blue rice really objectionable, there's a great solution...don't make it.

Some of your combinations don't look appetizing to me.

Every once in a while, I find something that would be perfect for the "picture" but might raise eyebrows palatewise (do palates have eyebrows?). I've gone ahead and used it, and eaten it, and I've found it's not that bad, not too different from items running together on a dinner plate. Of course, if you're one of those people who can't stand for your food items to touch each other at all, bento in general might not be your thing, unless you're really into cups and dividers. I've seen some wacky combinations in mainstream bento, too.

I think the weirdest combo I ever did were the puffs of cotton candy (aka fairy floss, aka sugar floss) on the turkey and rice in my Ichi the Killer bento. But nothing else would have worked the same way, and when it all comes down to it, it was just a small bit of sugar. I felt validated when Cat Cora (my favorite chef) topped a savory soup with cotton candy on Iron Chef America. The judges were weirded out at first, but then they tasted it, liked it, and declared it "fun". We're pioneers!

I don't think my child would eat your bentos.

The bentos I do are more art-friendly than kid-friendly. I'm sure that focus will shift a bit as my daughter grows older, but for right now I just do pretty things that I'm willing to eat. For kid-friendly bento ideas, there are lots of bento blogs out there that have just what you're looking for. I can't recommend Biggie's "Lunch in a Box" highly enough.

I prefer an emphasis on (ease of making, speed, taste) instead.

Uh, okay. Well, thanks for stopping by, I guess.

If you're into speed-bento, check out lunchinabox.net. She has all sorts of wonderful tips. I did a guest-spot there last fall on the artsy end of it, but her focus is definitely quick prep and she has some really great information (with step-by-step pics!) there.

Do you actually eat these lunches?

Well, yes. I make them in the morning and take pics (usually), then stick them in the fridge and that's my lunch.

How did you get started doing this? Did your mom pack bento lunches for you as a child?

I've always done art here and there, so this is one more chance to be creative and make something cool. My packed lunches were pretty standard PB&J fare. In elementary school I had a rust-colored Tupperware lunchbox with a matching cup full of tea. In junior high I hid in the library instead of facing the lunchroom and all its social implications. In high school I ate with my art teacher.

I briefly took bento lunches to work, when I had a job in a hospital. I was just doing it to amuse myself, but I got worried that people would think I was doing it for attention, so I became self-conscious and stopped. I didn't begin again until years later, and I've gotten over worrying what anyone thinks of me.

How long do your bentos take to make?

If I have a pretty solid idea in my head of what I want to do, not too long. If I have to boil rice or something, I try to start that in advance so it's done and cooled by the time I'm ready for it. Most of the elaborate ones in my flickr sets took about 45 minutes, start to finish, not counting rice. (Using leftover cooled rice is a great time-saver whenever it's possible).

You're not Japanese!

Shhhhh.

Do you speak Japanese?

If I strain to listen and someone speaks slowly, I can just barely follow spoken Japanese (if the speaker doesn't have an accent). SOME spoken Japanese, anyway. I do ok when I watch TV or movies. As far as written, or saying anything coherent in response to what's been said, I'm hopeless. But I'm working on it.

I stick to English when I write, but if you write me in French, Spanish or Italian, I'll understand what you're saying, especially in French. My tendency is to read what you write and then respond in English (ask my college French Lit professor sometime about how much he liked that). I used to be able to hold my own in Telugu but the majority of that departed my brain long ago.

Why don't you do more anime characters?

The style of bento I do is called oekakiben, where we enjoy making up our own pictures. I'm in complete awe of what people can do with kyaraben, though.

Why don't you use more cute picks and bottles?

Very early on, I went through a thing where I accumulated a lot of that stuff. It's so cute, but I got really tired of having to wash all that tiny stuff and chase tiny renegade picks that were determined to dart down a drain. Finally I decided I was going to have to retire the picks and bottles and just enjoy them in other people's lunches.

Why don't you participate in the bento swap anymore?

I got burned way too many times, sending packages out and waiting for ones that never arrived. Sorry.

Aren't you the same one (whose kids died, who was born with cancer, etc)?

Yes. I cover all that stuff on my public blog. http://www.sakurakokitsa.blogspot.com/
I'm public with my experiences in the hope that doing so will benefit others.

You should do a bento blog.

I have one, sort of, but it's not a very good one right now. I frequently forget to post to it. I forget it exists, a lot of the time. Mainly when some big food-art thing happens I go, "Oh, yeah!" and jump over to the blog to post about it. It's not the greatest place to reach me quickly, so please flickrmail me if you're in a rush.
http://wackyfunfoodarttime.blogspot.com/

Do you have stuff anywhere other than flickr?

Yep. Online, bentos pop up in blogs and news stories here and there. I just had two on Gourmet magazine's website as a promotion for an upcoming book. I've also had things on Geeknews, CBC Radio's blog, and all kinds of other places. I was particularly proud when LeMonde's science blogger liked my frog, and the article made it a funny choice:
http://sciences.blog.lemonde.fr/2009/01/19/les-grenouilles-de-la-discorde/

As far as magazines are concerned, I recently did a project for Anorak (the UK children's magazine) and (apparently) was in Greek Marie Claire with a full page of my silly mushroom geese. I was in Mothering, in an article they did on Bento. I think Bon Appetit also either talked about boxes I did or put pictures up on their blog. I show up in domestic and international newspapers from time to time.

I've contributed to two books: three bentos are in Face Food by Christopher Salyers and many many more are in 501 Bento Lunches, from Korero Books. I wrote the foreword to that one, the Bento Basics section.

http://www.amazon.com/500-Bento-Lunches-Recipes-Brilliant/dp/0955339855/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1239831115&sr=8-1

I've had an installation at Giacomo's in Troy (was up for about a year, ending in 2009) and I had a solo gallery show in Yellow Springs, OH as a guest of the Yellow Springs Arts Council:

http://ysarts.blogspot.com/search?q=bento

One really cool project I just got to do was the book-trailer for Sarah Vowell's "Unfamiliar Fishes", done by Milk Products Media. In it, a lot of important events in Hawaiian history were depicted in food. I used Hawaiian foods whenever I could, and it was a real challenge to get so much stuff cranked out on such a tight schedule. But it was a great experience :)

Where do you get (insert name of cool ingredient)?

Most of what I use I try to acquire locally, but a couple of specialty items come from the local Japanese grocery. (when they're open. They have weird hours.) Many more specialty items come from Jungle Jim's International Market. I'm an unrepentant Jungle Jim's addict. To me, it's the hap-hap-happiest place on earth.

http://www.junglejims.com

But seriously, contact me if you need help finding something and you're stumped.

Where do you get your boxes?

If you look closely, a lot of them are cheapie food storage containers that I don't feel too weird about microwaving. Every once in a while I'll get something from jlist or ichibankan. Strangely enough, I haven't bought a new bento box in years (my dad gave me a picnic sized box, but I'm not counting that). When you've got a surplus of boxes, they have a way of flying out of cupboards at you. Also, I freak out about getting them clean enough and many spend too much time in the sink while I go through my OCD-loop of bleach-soaking and scrubbing.

Why haven't you posted as many bentos lately?

I do what I can, but I'm a disabled woman chasing a toddler around. :) I still do stuff here and there, as inspiration strikes.



Thanks, everyone :)