#BetterMe: Oreo Bento Together Workshop with the Bento Mommas and the SoMoms

Every school day morning, I have to prepare my girls’ snacks and lunch for school. They’re currently in 7th and 6th grade now and I still make them bring packed food from home because I know that if I just rely on them to buy in school they might be tempted to eat something unhealthy. Although that option would be a lot easier on me because I wouldn’t have to do anything anymore, the thought of them eating a lot of junk stops me from making that choice.

I have to say though, planning and preparing their baon for school is not what I consider an easy task. I try to make the selections vary because I know they won’t enjoy eating the same things over and over again. But it’s still challenging to think of options. I’ve been looking at all these baon photos on my Facebook and IG feeds and I find myself envying those creative moms who come up with these amazing-looking bento boxes for their kids. How the heck do they come up with those ideas?

Enter an invitation I got from Oreo and the SoMoms (thru my friend, Mish of Momma ‘N Manila) for me to attend a Better Me Bento Together Workshop with them. Yay! I grabbed the opportunity although I was already intimidated knowing that I knew nothing about bento box making.

For those of you who are not familiar with Better Me, it is a movement started by the SoMoms, a group of top mommy bloggers in the country, which aims to help improve themselves in order to become better women and moms.

I know how helpful and informational their sessions are and so I was thrilled to have been given the opportunity to join them in this session. So, off I went to Mann Hann in San Juan last August 25 to join the group.

The bento workshop was given by the Bento Mommas. The Bento Mommas are comprised of five moms based in the Philippines and abroad, who all share a passion for bento-making. Aside from doing bento workshops, they also offer bento catering services and even have an online shop that sells bento kits and supplies.

I got to the venue early and so I was able to take a look at this table full of bento supplies. There are so many cute and colorful things you can use. This table must be bento heaven for all bento lovers.

Let me share with you what I learned from the workshop.

BENTO or OBENTO is actually defined as “a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine. A traditional bento holds rice, fish or meat, with pickled or cooked vegetables, usually in a box-shaped container.” Here in the Philippines though, bento refers to baon.

People who bento usually do so for the following reasons:

• To introduce a wider, healthier food selection to our children.
• To help address other concerns such as picky eaters and children with food allergies.
• To entertain and make our children SMILE.

So, I tried to do bento making for the first time. We were presented with these bento-making tools.

Bento essentials include: bento box, silicon cups, barans or food dividers, food picks, sauce bottles or containers, rice or onigiri molds, deco cutters, nori punchers, hand-held tools, condiment pens and squeeze bottles, and lots of imagination and creativity!

I also learned that it takes a lot of skill, patience and practice to do bento properly. I find it amazing how these Bento Mommas do it everyday. Imagine, they wake up at 4:30 a.m. just so they can prepare everything before their kids go to school. That is passion right there!

The Bento Mommas demonstrated how to make a particular theme step by step and the SoMoms and I tried to keep up. Haha! For the first bento, we had to learn how to shape rice and turn it into a bear. We also learned how to create a checkers design on an apple, which was challenging for me because my hands were unsteady. Then, of course, we had to put in meat, vegetables and dessert. Oreos, of course! So, here is my final product. Tada!

What do you think? Not bad for a first-timer, huh? I was feeling pretty relieved after this because my box didn’t turn out to be a disaster. But then it was announced that we were gonna have to create another box on our own and it’s going to be a challenge. What?!!! Eeeeppp!

We were all asked to create our own box with an animal theme, which we got to pick randomly from a pile of papers with animal drawings. I got a ladybug. Just great, hahaha! Oh, and of course, we had to include Oreos creatively in our box too.

I have to say, without a guide and with only my own creativity to rely on, I really didn’t know if I could pull it off. While I was able to finish my box, my ladybug wasn’t red ‘coz I couldn’t find any red materials I could use. But I was pretty happy that everyone could still tell it was a ladybug. Here’s what it looks like.

What do you think? Pwede na ba? The ladybug might not be red but at least its eyes are. Haha! I created the ladybug using white and chocolate bread. It’s actually a sandwich with sweet cheese spread inside. Then I used half of an Oreo for its head, cut some small bread circles for its eyes and placed red candy on top. For the dots, I used chocolate chips. To make the box more healthy, I added salted pretzels, grapes and of course, more Oreos. Ziggy ended up eating all of this at home. So, I guess it’s a success, right?

I’m pretty proud of what I accomplished, knowing that I’m not really an artistic or creative person. Haha! So, for those of you feeling intimidated by bento-making, I really suggest you give it a try. I’m glad I did!

Thank you to Mish and the SoMoms, Oreo and the Bento Mommas for inviting me!

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 To learn more about the Bento Mommas, check out the following links:

Facebook: facebook.com/bentomommas

Twitter: thebentomommas

Instagram: thebentomommas