Social Implications For Men?

[eventamy]

I sent my DH to work with a bento yesterday (see picture in Bento Showroom). His first bento to work, only his 2nd bento ever. His first being the travel bento when we went to Disney a couple of weeks ago.
He LOVED his travel bento and commented about that on Sunday when I was making our other bentos (for the girls and I), so I made him one. I've been wanting to but hesitant at the same time.
Anyway, during dinner last night I asked him about how his bento was for lunch yesterday. He said it was good and that it passed the "hetero" test. I had to laugh. He is the I.T. Director at a company that sells classic car parts, he loves cars and loves computers and it's really close to our house so it's perfect for him. But as you can imagine there's some "macho" men who work there. He's already odd guy out sometimes anyway because he's so into computers and not into hunting and other things the other guys are. Yep, we live in Northern Redneck Territory!
I asked what they said and he started smirking. He can't lie to save himself so I finally got it out of him. They thought it was weird, but cool at the same time. The whole "box from Japan" thing, plus that I went out of my way to make it for him. It wasn't even fancy! I could get fancier, but I won't.
So I need to find some more "Manly" bentos and accessories and I've having a hard time. Any suggestions? Everything "manly" on Ichiban is sold out! I've looked at Ebay but some of the prices are ridiculous to me!
I love the Bone picks and other things I've seen. Any suggestions for cool accessories too?

[jerseygeekgirl]

From Japan With Love has some nice non-gender specific bento doodads. http://www.from-japan-with-love.com/index.html

A little pricey, especially for this cheapo Scot here, but there are some really nice things I will end up caving and begging to get.

[sanriofreak]

For a guy, I'd just stick with something less, "bento" looking like a lock n lock box or some other food container that is plain looking. I know my DH would refuse to bring anything that looked remotely, "cute" or out of the ordinary. I also got a few of the beige natural stuff for my DH at ichibankanusa, BUT I think that they are probably too small for him. Since they are plain and beige, they are pretty boring. Unlike women, I think the guys don't want to draw any attn to themselves, lol.

[killerkitty]

My boyfriend has the standard yellow Urara box that he picked out himself on Ebay, I've suggested to get him a "manlier" box a couple of times (mostly because they're bigger) and but I always got "But I LOVE my yellow box!" for an answer. That's it, can't use him as a pretense to extend my collection!

[Megs]

I got my husband a very attractive blue "Metal Mode" bento box for his birthday, last year. I also have a tuperware lunch keeper (like the sandwich keeper but it has little spots for sides) as well as my cheap back-up divided box from Target.
I'm pretty sure the Metal Mode is his favorite, especially because it has a little compartment for chopsticks.
My husband LOVES getting bentos, especially when I do dorky cutesy stuff. His previous boss was completely jealous of penguin-shaped hot dogs and apple flowers. When I do something over-the-top cute, he shows EVERYONE: co-workers, regular customers, whoever. When I made otters our of mini hot dogs on top of blue rice, he showed everyone in the store and waited for one of his co-workers to come in before he ate it!!
Two of his co-workers are jealous (in a friendly way), since their wife/girlfriend cannot cook.

[ScullyPA]

My husband and I take the Fit N Fresh lunch set in a Land's End lunch box. The Fit N Fresh fits inside perfectly, and there is a top section for a bottle of water. He got made fun of the first time he came to work, because I did use some silicone cupcake wrappers to put his yogurt and pudding in, but he didn't care. He's had some health problems, and it is important to me (and him) that he be eating well.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001FW ... B001FWXTS2

I got the Fit N Fresh at Target for $8.99.

The comments tell you that the lid is flimsy, and that's true, one of the lids already doesn't sit well anymore, and I've only owned them for a few weeks. However, it doesn't really matter because of the box that I put them in. I think the box must be discontinued, because I could not find a pic of it on the Land's End website.

[Biggie]

My husband likes the black Dear Label boxes from Asvel, Lock & Lock boxes, and the brushed metal Nissan Stainless thermal lunch jar. Surprisingly, he's also okay with the Shinkansen sandwich box, but I think that's an aberration.

[Biggie]

I went poking around J-Box because even if they don't have the best prices, they have good pictures and a pretty extensive collection. Take a look here:

"Men's' bento boxes/sets:
BENTO234
BENTO264
BENTO266
BENTO223
BENTO272
BENTO226
BENTO263

These have more Japanese-cultural design/decoration:
PRIM001
PRIM002
PRIM003
PRIM005
PRIM006

And just because it's both an unusual colour and a nice design, look at this:
SHIRT-TEA1

[Pangolin]

My husband always took lunch in a lock & lock until I got him a Mr. Bento. The Mr. Bento itself is pretty boring, and the guys at work mostly think it's cool that we cook rather than get take-out like they do every night, and therefore he has something to bring for lunch allowing him to avoid the cafeteria (which ha poisoned people!).
Since lunch is usually leftover dinner from the night before, I don't bother with too much cutesy stuff, although when I've done it, he always likes it. (I doubt he shows it around though.) We do eat a lot of rice however, and he's been asked by co-workers who have never seen me if I am Asian. He always gets a good laugh out of that one! (I'm short, but a Jewish Easter-European Mutt, thank you very much!)


Since the black bag that came with the Mr. Bento wasn't too cool, my brother, the custom leatherworker, made us Mr. Bento carriers/covers for our anniversary last year. Since my husband is into NASCAR and a Tony Stewart Fan, he got the 14 on his in the team colors. Mine has a tree, which is the logo for my chainmail business. They have handles that can be switched out for longer shoulder straps to give us more ways to carry them. Now the guys at work just think he's a rabid NASCAR fan, and they ignore the fact that it's a "cute little Japanese lunch".

[Corgi]

[jaw drops]

OOOOO. He's goooood, Pangolin.