A bento (弁当, bentō) is a single-portion take-out or home-packed meal of Japanese origin, often for lunch, typically including rice and packaged in a box with a lid (often a segmented box with different parts of the meal placed in different sections).
A traditional bento typically includes rice or noodles with fish or some other meat, often with pickled and cooked vegetables in a box. Containers range from mass-produced disposable containers to hand-crafted lacquerware. Dividers are often used to separate ingredients or dishes, especially those with strong flavors, to avoid them affecting the taste of the rest of the meal. A typical divider is green plastic 'sushi grass', known as baran in Japan, which also works to slow the growth of bacteria.
