The realization of Bento Man. Totally insane. Totally hilarious. lol

Yes, Bento Man is real my friends, in an unreal kinda’ way. lol What you see above came about from a rough, vague, loosely-planned idea and about 3 hours of work to make from start to finish.

What else would a food blogger do for a Halloween costume than FOOD? Well, that’s exactly the theme I stuck with for today (and tonight’s) festivities. Scouring the web for ideas on how to make “giant food”, the easiest method I found was Paper (Papier) Mache.

Here’s how that bento I made for my chest piece began…

Paper Mache is really easy to craft with, and best of all, CHEAP. All you need is newspaper, flour, salt, water, and some paint to finish it. Here you see I bundled up newspaper to create the foundational shape of each food item in the bento. Holding the shape together is masking and clear tape, also providing a smoother finish for the paper mache.

While looking for “found objects” around the house, I came across some spray paint caps, which I used as a base for the Hosomaki Sushi (the two clear and one yellow plastic round caps on the bottom right).

For the paper mache paste, believe it or not, I used KRUSTEAZ pancake mix, since the ingredients in the batter mix stated it already had salt in it, with mostly flour as its main ingredient. Shoots, sounds easy to me. There ya’ go; use real food to make fake food! So I added enough water to bring it to wallpaper paste consistency, as you see here…

Paper Mache paste made with KRUSTEAZ pancake mix (and water)

Then rip newspaper into about 1-2″ strips, dip in paper mache paste, wipe off excess, then wrap the paste-moistened strips around the newspaper forms (or whatever object you’re using as a base). You do this repeatedly, overlapping each strip to completely cover and create a mask that covers the rough newspaper/tape, or whatever “core” shape you’re using. Smooth it out as much as you can. The wet, viscous paste breaks down the newsprint, making it sort of mushy, which helps sculpt your shapes and take to curved surfaces.

After doing that, you simply let it air dry, preferably in the sun to speed the process and make it sort of “bake” hard.

After its fully dry, spray each piece with a coat of white primer, which helps make the finished color of the fake food look more uniform, and also prevents the newsprint ink from bleeding through.

Finally, paint each piece with whatever medium you like to use to make it resemble the food items you’re presenting. In my case, I used all-purpose enamel aerosol spray paints, and a few brushed-on applications (mixing colors) for details (like the Hosomaki filling and the grill marks).

Here’s the finished bento…

Bento Man’s “Power-Up” Chest Piece and Special Hashi (chopsticks). CD shown to compare scale.

Here’s Bento Man’s matching Musubi Vision Gear and Oishii Bento GPS Antenna Piece….

Notice the gohan (rice) print, and Ume “lens”. lol

The white “antenna” part is made out of foam core, the eye part of poster board, all glued (using a hot glue gun) to an old LED headband elastic strap.

and Voila, the completed Bento Man Halloween Costume…

And once again, in another pose, here I am posing as BENTO MAN!…

Pomai, a.k.a. BENTO MAN

Damned. Look at them white, non-muscular, hairy “Podogee” arms. lol I gotta’ put in more work-out time and get more sun. Like seriously. he he.

Anyway, in case you’re not sure what exactly each food item is in this “bigger than life” bento “chest piece”, here’s the deal, starting from the bottom, up:

That pink and white “flowery” thing on the bottom is Kamaboko, a Japanese fish cake. The three round things right above that are Hosomaki Sushi, with Tekka (Ahi), Daikon and Cucumber varieties. As you seen earlier, the base of these are those spray paint caps. Cool, huh?

Then there’s that big long red thing, which is none other than a grilled Redondo’s Winner (like a hot dog). That yellow chicken drumstick-looking thing next to it is actually supposed to be Shrimp Tempura, as you see by the red tail. Close enough. The pinkish-brown rectangle-shaped thing to the right of that is supposed to be grilled salmon. Again, close enough.

Finally, adorning the top chest area of this bigger-than-life bento chest piece are what I’ve strategically placed like that to function as Bento Man’s “Musuboobies”. lol! I tell you, that got the audience rolling on the floor.

That said, I won today’s Halloween Costume Contest at our office, beating out 8 other contestants, rewarded with a nice tool set and a Zippy’s Gift Certificate. Whoo-hoo! Not sure if I’ll wear it out tonight. I’d rather just be spectator, but we’ll see.

With that, Bento Man wishes you and yours a safe and happy Halloween!

Related Links:
• The Friendly Neighborhood Bento Man