Bento #76: The Lorax

Have you checked out the results for the Dream Bento Contest at EpiCute and My Food Looks Funny yet?

It wasn’t easy by any means, but it was a lot of fun. I initially picked the Lorax by Dr. Seuss but after I got an extension for the deadline, I decided do the Moomins as well.

*Before I begin, I’m usually against taking requests for bento because it’s hard to make something that I don’t know too much about. Little details make a huge difference when making kyaraben, and it takes a lot longer than usual to plan and make a bento based on something you aren’t familiar with. Keep in mind that this one was for a contest!*

Anyway I’ll first do a blog post about the Lorax since it was my first pick.

Bento #76: the Lorax
Created and eaten on: 07/04/2010

After I decide to do a bento of the Lorax, I watched a video of the Lorax, gathered reference images, and studied what makes the world of the Lorax “Lorax-like.” His beard, the pile of rocks, Truffula trees, Humming Fish, Swomee Swans, Bar-ba-Loots (which I couldn’t make), the Once-ler’s house, and his green arms.

For the green field, I mixed rice with sea kelp furikake (seasoning), and for the sky, I mixed rice with black sesame seed.

I cut meatballs in half and buried them into the rice for the top of the Truffula tree. I tried making Truffula trees fluffy, but it didn’t really work out, so I used a cutter to cut out cheese and carrot and put it on the meatball. For the pink one, I made a small rice ball and put sakura denbu (sweet pink fish flakes) all over it. Then I cut an egg sheet to make the tree part.

For the bush around the tree, I cut red cabbage into thin strips, dressed it in vinegar and sesame oil, and left it sit until it softened. Then I put it around the bottom of the tree.

I knew I didn’t have enough meatballs so at the lower part of the bento I cooked asparagus and carrot wrapped it with bacon, and grape tomato with corn.

For the pile of rocks, I carved a potato, fried it, and put it on the rice. It’s the same way I made the body of the Big Daddy from BioShock bento.

I made mashed yam, shaped it like the Lorax and put it above the pile of rocks made with potato. Then I cut an egg sheet for his beard, and used a straw to cut out carrot for his nose.

I made Humming Fish with cheese and Swomee Swans with egg sheet and cheese.

I previously had cut seaweed into the shape of the Once-ler’s house, so I put it on cheese, and cut it around the seaweed. To finish it, I cut fishcake for clouds and everyone’s eyes, put black sesame seeds on, and put pieces of broccoli for the Once-ler’s arms.

The hardest thing about this bento was that there were sooooooo many small pieces of food, which I couldn’t prepare in advance because the cheese would either melt or get hard, and seaweed on any food would get wrinkly.

The story in this bento may not be consistent with the book since I have all Truffula trees, the pile of rocks and Once-ler’s house in the same scene, but this was the best I could do.There are a lot of things I wanted to do better in this bento, but I do like how the Lorax came out.

If you’re just making the Lorax, it’s very easy! You just need mashed yam, a tiny piece of carrot, cheese and black sesame seeds. For his beard, you can use cheese instead of egg sheet!

For more pictures of my bento, visit Bento! set and Bento details! set on my flickr page.

Tagged as: asparagus, bacon, broccoli, carrot, corn, Dr. Seuss, eggs, Lorax, peas, potato, red cabbage, renkon, sakura denbu, snow peas, sweet potato, tomato