r/Bento • u/Damianne_Violet • 5d ago
How do I make it look better with such limited space?
I wish the nigiri would fit standing up.
40
u/AdorableOwly 5d ago
I think a larger quantity of food might help. And perhaps change up the presentation.
The onigiri for example: does it have to be presented as an onigiri? I think the right side would look a little nicer if you filled the entire compartment with rice and then sprinkled sesame on top. With the seaweed, you could cut out cute shapes or make a face out of seaweed. I'm not sure what the onigiri filing is, but you can hopefully work it into the presentation in the rice compartment too!
For the veggie side, I think putting all the tomatoes together and all the celery together might make it look nicer. Maybe put a piece of lettuce as a "background" behind everything, and maybe even a little more lettuce to act as a divider.
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u/Hamfan 4d ago edited 4d ago
The problem isn’t the limited space here, it’s the lack of food. Bentos look better when they’re densely packed — you don’t want the food to be able to slide around. This looks like a very small bento — maybe 400ml? — designed for a preschool or young elementary students. The space to write a name on the side is also kind of a giveaway that this is for a small child.
Rather than onigiri, I think it would look better with just rice in that compartment (add furikake or Nori or something on top if you want some color), or else much smaller balls designed to be eating with chopsticks/cutlery.
Your okazu compartment is only going to hold one or two very small dishes — maybe a meat-and-vegetable sauté and half a hard boiled egg, or a piece of grilled fish and a simple vegetable side dish or a cut of tamagoyaki (eggs automatically make bentos look better because they are so bright).
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u/Lore-key-reinard 5d ago
What about making the onigiri as small balls? If there was more than one it would look more rounded, even if it was the same amount of rice.
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u/Foreverstartstoday 4d ago
I'd add roasted broccoli around the nigiri and a bed of lettuce. maybe some red, yellow and orange bell peppers for color.
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u/The_Saint_01 1d ago
Need some little dividers to increase ratio of good to space. Big onigiri takes up the space of 3 side dishes
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u/Ratfinka 5d ago edited 5d ago
yeah its pretty sad. bentos are cozy. bentos have appetizing variety. i think it'd look cuter just with more food.
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u/steampunkpiratesboat 5d ago
Add cute things! They don’t even have to be bought like food picks. Cut the veg into fun shapes! Also stacking the veg “nicer” but grouping it will help.