As workers return to offices, home-cooked meals are the lunchtime flavor of the month
Bringing bento boxes is now a trend for many returning to work after the COVID-19 outbreak. These self-made meals please the eye and the taste buds as creative cooks use ingredients in imaginative ways. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)
Since returning to work on March 2, Zhang Yuanqing from Shanghai has taken homemade lunch with her to the office.
Carried in a delicate bento box, she takes a pretty photo of it every day to post on social media as a record of daily life, something which brings her a sense of accomplishment.
People all over China have gradually returned to the workplace after a long period of home confinement due to the outbreak of COVID-19.
Although people can, for the most part, once again dine at restaurants and order food delivery like they did before the pandemic cut a swathe through daily life, some people, like 28-year-old Zhang, choose to make their own lunch — a practice which started as a safety measure but has now become a habit.
As many people were forced to prepare their own food during self-isolation at home, they spent time brushing up their cooking skills by finding recipes and following demonstration videos online.
Statistics from e-commerce platform Suning show that its sales of electrical bento boxes increased by a factor of 20 between Feb 9 and March 5 compared with the same period last year. These boxes can heat the food when needed, thus saving people from having to line up to use the office microwave when they want to eat.
From the 1960s to the ’80s, it was not uncommon for Chinese people to carry an aluminum lunch box with a homemade meal to work or school. These lunch boxes would be heated up together in a large food steamer before lunch break.
As China’s economy developed, on-site canteens, more disposable income and a greater choice of restaurants and delivery services became the norm.
“Since the pandemic began, I have had more leisure time to enjoy life and become more serious about dining. Enjoying a healthy diet has become the motivation to bring my own lunch,” Zhang said.
As she works in the tourism industry, which has been heavily affected by the pandemic, Zhang’s workload has dropped.
She joined a WeChat group for people who make their own lunch, and they exchange cooking skills and bento recipes, motivating each other along the way.
She said a beautiful bento box gives her a cheerful state of mind when she dines. It is easier for beginners to start by setting goals — for example, she plans to bring her own lunch at least 100 times this year and learn a new recipe every week.
She also finds that it is more economical. Lunch at a restaurant would usually cost around 40-50 yuan (US$5.64-7.05). She has saved about 1,000 yuan a month so far.
Before the pandemic, Zhang Lulu, an office worker from Beijing, either frequented her company’s canteen or simply ordered takeaway.
The canteen reopened recently with strict hygienic rules. Staff members make an online reservation for the next day’s meals, choose the dishes they want, and pick a time slot for when to dine.
As part of the new protocols, they are required to sit on the same row of a long table, separated by recently installed glass partitions, and are encouraged not to talk with each other during meals.
But Zhang Lulu still brought her own food for more than two weeks.
“The pandemic has forced me to change some areas of my lifestyle in a more positive and healthier way,” she said.
She believes preparing her bento box has made her more self-disciplined. “It’s never too late to make a change,” she said.
She plans the next week’s menu on Sundays, with nutritional ingredients that are easy to cook, such as shredded meat and shelled shrimps. She often spends about an hour cooking the meal the night before or early in the morning.
“I take cooking as an opportunity to relax my mind, but I still have to focus, or the dishes will be overcooked,” said Zhang Lulu.
She is also happy to find that her recent home isolation and this new habit are, in a number of ways, helping her to protect the environment.
“I have had less desire to spend money, so I buy fewer clothes — the fast fashion industry results in extensive water consumption and pollution,” she explained. “Ordering fewer takeaway meals also reduces waste.”
Zuo Lingyao, 27, who works in the finance industry in Shanghai, is also a food blogger, posting her daily bento recipes online.
She tries to use ingredients in a clever way to garnish her bento box with a photogenic character — for example, creating a fried egg with a big smile using black sesame as eyes and a small slice of red pepper as a mouth.
She suggested using molds to cut carrots into flower shapes or to shape rice into the likeness of a cute animal.
She has taken a packed lunch to work since 2018, when she stopped eating at restaurants and decided to lose some weight.
Zuo socializes online with other packed lunch enthusiasts. She met her boyfriend thanks to her bento box posts on micro-blogging platform Sina Weibo.
She used to skip breakfast and eat excessively during other meals. Making packed lunches has helped her maintain a healthy diet and a disciplined routine.
Zuo gets up early to prepare breakfast and her lunch box, recording the process as photos and short videos to post online.
Some of her friends started to ask her how to prepare bento, starting with simple dishes.
“You should not turn it into a mundane task. I will rest sometimes if I am very busy or tired,” Zuo advised. “It’s important that you enjoy the whole process, and the interest will drive you to delve into it.”
She has feelings of “anticipation at lunch before I open the box, even though I know what’s inside”.
After shopping for food, she washes, processes and divides ingredients into small portions for each meal before putting them in the fridge.
However, nutritionist Fan Zhihong, an associate professor at the College of Food Sciences and Nutritional Engineering at China Agricultural University, said it is important for those who prepare lunch boxes to pay attention to bacteria prevention.
“As the weather gets warmer, it’s important to ensure that the bento is always stored in a fridge or ice-filled cooler bag before eating,” Fan said.
She suggested the use of ingredients that maintain their texture after heating, such as potato, onion, eggplant, pumpkin, mushrooms and edible tree fungus.
For a balanced diet, people can add coarse grains to rice as staple food, place raw fresh vegetables like lettuce and fruit separately from the cooked dishes, and bring a carton of milk or yogurt, she added.
“You need to disinfect the lunch box with hot water before putting the hot rice and dishes into the box, seal it with the box cover and put it in the fridge. The cover might flex inward due to negative pressure, but the food will be protected,” she said, adding that to keep food warm for several hours until lunch will lose nutrition and that it is better to heat the bento just before dining.
