So I’m actually really, really excited about this week’s lunches. The main reason is that this is the first bento that I have designed myself. Up until this week, I have been recreating bentos I see online or I’ve watched a tutorial for (and I’ll still do that sometimes. There are a few I have yet to try). But this week is different.

I really wanted to do a bento dedicated to my favorite video game, Overwatch. So I started my standard Google search for Overwatch themed bentos by other people. Unfortunately, I wasn’t really able to find any. I guess the cross section of Overwatch players and bento makers is quite small. So I gave up for a few weeks. Then I saw a Reddit post of someone’s SO trying to make hero themed bentos and they were really untraditional. This made me think, maybe I could do that too. So here is my first bento design:

I really wanted to theme it around the main heroes I play in Overwatch: Moria, D.Va, and Mercy. I’m not artistic enough to actually draw out the heroes, so I decided to go simpler and just focus on the icons for their ultimate abilities. For Moria, this is a yellow teardrop in purple flames; for D.Va, this is a bunny face; and for Mercy, this is a pair of wings.

For the Ultimates I made rice balls with the ultimate design on top. For Moira, I made a round rice ball, used cheese for the teardrop and hand cut flames from nori (they aren’t purple, but this is the closest I could get with the materials I found). For D.Va, I actually shaped the rice ball into a bunny head using plastic wrap. I then cut the face out of nori trying to get the look of the bunny down. Though, I realized afterwards that the nose should have been a triangle and not a circle. Finally for Mercy, I made a round rice ball and topped it with wings I hand cut from cheese.

Another nod to Mercy was in my first protein. I made ‘caduceus staff’ baked chicken fries. I was hoping that cutting the chicken breast into long thin strips and breading it before baking my help to show the idea that it’s a staff. I’m not convinced it really works, but it makes me happy.

The second protein is actually a nod to an unofficial Overwatch mascot, ‘Pachimari’ sausages. Pachimari is this cute radish octopus plus that occurs in game on several levels, player icons, and even some emotes. He is adorable, and since I had already made octopus out of sausages, I just tried to craft it a little more into a radish shape. I was mostly happy with these, though next time I need to work on the face a bit more. Most of the mouths didn’t actually show up.

I wanted to have veggies on the bento to feel balanced, and thought of a clever way to give another nod to D.Va. I made ‘D.Va’a Doritos’. These are actually just raw carrots that I cut into thin triangles, but it fits the hero. She is a professional Starcraft player in game that likes Mountain Dew and Doritos so much that she has a legendary emote dedicated to them. So the carrots felt fitting. I wanted a lower glycemic index veggies too, but couldn’t think of anything else clever so just boiled edamame (It’s my favorite!).

Finally, my dessert was another nod to Moira. I made “Moira’s Orbs”, which didn’t actually require any effort because they are just grapes. Moira throws out damaging orbs (purple grapes) and healing orbs (green grapes) in combat. I think they will make a tasty dessert too!

So how did I do on my first ever design? Do you think I captured the spirits of Moira, D.Va, and Mercy? Overall, I’m pretty happy with how they turned. I know there are areas I can improve, but it was pretty exciting to actually come up with the design of the bento, so I think I’ll start trying that out sometimes too. Hope you enjoyed!!