From Brown Bag to Bento

Brown bag lunches can be about as unappealing as the tuna fish on white that they contain. Even the name is unappetizing, summoning the most drab of meal options, often arriving at your desk disheveled from the trip into the office.

We’re not saying that midweek lunches need to be a white-linen affair. But it goes without saying that sometimes, they could use a little prettying up. For that, we’re taking a lesson from the Bento Box.

Historically, they were a simple boxed lunch for field workers, but they’ve evolved into high art -- think broccoli trees, rice balls shaped like Hello Kitty, apples fashioned into swans. And while our moral food compass steers us away from such things (we believe our apples should look like apples), we’re not opposed to food that is as pleasing aesthetically as it is flavor-wise. NPR offers a few recipes so that we can do just that. And don’t worry, your vegetables will still look like vegetables, they’ll just be prettier.

Thinking Outside The Bento Box from NPR