hanami bento

It’s blooming season for sakura – the Japanese cherry tree. When Japanese people think of cherry trees, they tend to think about blossoms, not berries. These trees do not fruit. For about two weeks out of the year, they blossom fully and beautifully, and then the petals quickly fall off as green leaves sprout and take their place. There is a word that exists to describe this one seasonal moment, when the pinkish-white petals scatter from the trees in swirls through the air – hanafubuki. Read literally the word would mean “flowers blowing like a breath of snow”, and that’s a good idea of the impression that you get by watching these trees. It's a beautiful time of year and a perfect chance to picnic.

for some reason the theme appeared to be cats

In good tradition everyone goes out to picnic under the flowers, with blue plastic mats, near-ridiculous amounts of liquor, and bento boxes full of food. This year the blossoming of the flowers seems to have timed itself up with the haru ichiban – the first warm spring wind of the year. Here’s the bento we had for lunch, made by the diligent and lovely Takako Nakayama. The stacking form of the bento box is a great way to keep food separated and to include a variety of items in your picnic basket. This has really put me in just the right mood for posting on some traditional bento side dishes, as well as picnic items!