Bento Box Lessons of Love

Today I did not

drink water

pee

or eat food

until after 3:30 pm.

Instead I spent the entire day running around like a mad woman. I loaded up bags of supplies and tools for my culinary class. I wrote up hand outs and directions for simple things such as  “How to boil eggs” and drew maps of the classroom where everything would go. I mentally prepared myself for the chaos that would be 7th period with 32 students.

32 students. For 70 minutes.

Not to scare anyone out of the teaching profession (AAAAAAAHHHHHH! It’s a flaming zombie! Run away before you’re eaten alive!), but being in charge of 32 teenagers is like trying to wipe up a gallon of milk with a tissue. It’s like the test in the eye doctor’s office where you’re clicking the clicker for those random flashes of light in every peripheral spot. It’s like trying to play the piano while the baby is screaming.

Add some chef’s knives, gas stoves, and raw food to the mix.

Now it’s like teaching culinary.

Over the last few lessons I’ve been teaching my students about the visual appeal of food. I thought, how better to do that than with bento boxes? In addition we learned about portion control, balance, variety, and garnish. Since most of our periods are 40 minutes long, it’s difficult to get in much, but I did pack a lot of information in to 3 days. We even made bento box blueprints.

Today we put our plans into action. Every student made his or her own bento. I ran from station to station to thwart safety hazards (“Does it smell like gas in here?”) and answer questions like, “Can I just cook the rest of my SPAM for later?”

32 students need a lot of attention. Almost as much as my 4-year-old.

We even had a photography station and got a shot of each bento box for later grading. I stepped in for a few pictures as the entire concept of photographing food was definitely new to them (not that I’m any sort of expert). Some couldn’t be rescued, color and focus wise, because of the lighting in that room and the settings they chose because I was too busy to help them with each picture (probably this could be fixed more with photoshop but is beyond my capability). Some students are definitely naturals at design. Think we have a few future food bloggers?

They’ve had such small exposure to food, really. But there are such cute details in even the simplest bentos here.

The kids were so impressed with their pictures on that little LCD screen. They couldn’t believe they had made something beautiful. I heard one student say, “Now I remember why I like this class.”

Glad I could remind him.

And glad they could remind me.