Whole, fresh, green soybeans, steamed in their pods, sprinkled with salt and then eaten as an appetiser. You have to winkle the skin away with your fingers, teeth and tongue.
Eki-ben are probably the best known form of bento box. The term bento refers to a light meal served in a portable container, usually a compartmented lacquer box. The first bentos were created by tea masters who took the multi-tray arrangement of kaiseki and condensed it into a portable form. In the process they created another fixed style of dining. They are usually used for lunches. There are many types of bento. The ekiben, in which local produce of very high quality predominates, are sold at railway stations throughout Japan.
"Dimple." A sweetened rice cake with a dimple in the top with a tiny red circle in the centre, sometimes thought to be sexually suggestive. These are given by meiko in the geisha world to the men who may become their patrons.
