The latest trend in lunch boxes does away with the box all together. Slender, attractive and easy to put together, the “tumbler bento” is the new shape of lunch on the run. The idea, which is finding favor with career women, is to pop your lunch into an insulated coffee cup before dashing out to work in the morning. The cup keeps your lunch cool (or warm) and saves space in your bag.
According to Get News, the trend was kickstarted by a story featuring model Shizuka Kondo in the May issue of women’s magazine CanCam. The charm points? Sloppy ingredients won’t spill; it fits easily into a bag; hot meals retain their heat better; cool meals stay cool; and if you skip breakfast you can always stick in your cornflakes before dashing out of the house and eat them at your desk with fresh milk. Another tumbler trick: Throw in some dry pasta in the morning and pour in hot water, and it’s cooked by lunch time.