How to preserve a BENTO BOX?!?

Question:

Help me...
I want a bento box because they're adorable and handy :D
But I don't know how to preserve the food. How do they do it in Japan? Do they keep it in a fridge at school?

Bonus: Recipes for bento foods?

THANKS~

Answer:

The typical Japanese bento lunch box consist of a meat, rice and some vegetables and/or pickles. The meat can be a variety of fish such as salmon, or fried chicken, pork cutlets, sausage, hamburger. The rice can be plain or consist of a topping sprinkled on called “furikake”. Most bento`s are eaten cold but it is not a problem to heat them up in the microwave depending on what they contain.

In Japan, a Bento will usually contain umeboshi or pickles which help preserve the meal. Traditionally su or vinegar is added to the rice to preserve it. In modern times things like frozen jelly is added to keep the bento cool and fresh. Most people don't keep it in the fridge as this causes the rice to go hard and it is not as tasty.

Japanese Bento
http://japan-australia.blogspot.com/2010…