Made to Be Eaten Cold: An Ekiben Kitchen — Epoche A2
Made to be eaten cold: an ekiben kitchen From four every morning, Mr Ono's company packs about eight hundred ekiben - station lunch boxes - for the platforms at Sendai Station. He has done this for thirty years, and he answered my questions, and let me watch. What makes a bento for a train different from an ordinary lunch? "It is eaten cold. The customer buys it at seven and opens it at noon, on a moving train, with no microwave and no fridge. Everything follows from that." Follows how? "We cool the rice completely before the lid goes on. Warm rice makes steam under the lid, the drops fall back, and the rice spoils - in taste and in safety. And the seasoning is set a little stronger than a restaurant would use, because cold food tastes weaker than the same food hot." Which dishes can go in? "Grilled salted salmon, simmered vegetables, rolled egg. Things that are good at room temperature, and no sauce that goes hard as it cools." Some boxes warm themselves now, don't they? "A few have a string. Pull it, and water meets quicklime under the tray; the box steams itself hot in a few minutes. But that is the exception. A proper ekiben does not need it." I bought the salmon one at seven and opened it at noon: cold, and exactly right.