This One's About Food Again

  So there is a local chain restaurant, Hotto Motto (more hot), that provides some decent ready-made lunches.  The name is kind of a silly story.  There was an original food chain, Hokka Hokka Tei (I believe hokka is a way of saying "hot" and I don't know how to translate tei).  So this restaurant had a distribution company in its franchise that recently declared independence.  The company broke off and supplied the new restaurant, Hotto Motto, claiming in its humorous name that it is hotter than its competitor.  Notably, the menus are almost identical, and while Hotto Motto introduces new items more frequently, Hokka Hokka Tei is generally better.  My main school has a Hotto Motto near it, so I only eat Hokka Hokka Tei once a week.  Also, since the latter is older, its name found its way into lunch parlance.  Hokkaben (an amalgamation of hokka and bentou) is a way of explaining that your lunch is not homemade but take-out.

Most of you have probably heard the term bentou before, given that the popularity of Japanese food is on the rise.  A bentou is your quintessential lunch box.  Homemade bentou will usually consist of several layered dishes: one with veggies and meat, one with rice, and possibly a bowl for soup.  When you buy one out, you get a big styrofoam box, basically, with everything inside.  For people with large appetites, you can buy a manpuku bentou, which essentially means "full stomach lunch".  I think of it as Japan's Hungry Man, especially since it's a MANpuku bentou (though still pronounced mAWn-poo-koo).  That is a common item that I tried once.  

Recently, they introduced the sports bentou, which allegedly packs in the protein and calories that are needed by athletes.  Mind you, a lot of protein here is 30g or so, about the same you would get from a single quarter pounder.  At first glance, it looks like a smorgasbord of foods that are basically not good for you, but each is presented in moderation.  So, I bought it, and I need to hit the gym later.  My American appetite put down the meal quite handily, but I looked online and discovered the specific breakdown of nutrition.  I basically did eat a quarter pounder; the fat and protein I took in were comparable, but the weight of the meal was far greater and consisted of twice the calories and way more sugars (rice and pasta aplenty).  I was pleased with the variety of tastes, and it overall had a very Western, fried goodness to it.  The components of the meal are not unusual at all for Japan.

I have been frequenting the gym and trying to adjust my diet accordingly.  This does mean a greater intake of calories, protein, and vitamins.  So my meat and veggies are a staple.  This meal lived up to its name for the most part, but I would have definitely sacrificed some of the flavor for lower fat content if it were up to me.  I will enumerate its contents, starting in the upper left hand corner and moving clockwise.  First up is an oily mix of pasta, pork, and veggies.  The next corner is a piece of sausage, a small croquette of potato and veggies, some cabbage (termed salad), a bit of scrambled egg, and a piece of fried chicken, the first three hidden from view by my environmentally friendly two-tone chopsticks.  Next is the world's smallest hamburger, and, finally, you guessed it, a heap of rice coated with some nice, salty furikake for flavor.  Let's not forget the decorative fake seaweed that is used in America, as well, and equally useless.  Finally, a picture of me sitting in the office yesterday, sporting some argyle and wondering if I should play golf.  Bye, America!