Square Eggs

I thought I’d seen it all when I encountered this device for making square eggs. Apparently, all you have to do is squish your perfectly hardboiled egg with the little plunger thingie, and Bob’s your square uncle. But…why?

My guess is it’s the newest weapon in the ever-escalating Bento Lunchbox Wars fought in the trenches of every school cafeteria in Japan! Say you’re a Japanese mom and you just didn’t hear that alarm go off at 5:00 a.m. when it was time to begin crafting the perfect Pikachu lunchbox. It’s so late, you don’t even have time to whip out a cheaterly version with your arsenal of Lunchboxing Power Tools. Your little darling will not be happy if you have to resort to slapping together a PB&J, even if you make it with leftover heart-shaped bread. You’re really up a creek without a paddle, unless you can produce something utterly novel in minutes. Enter…THE SQUARE EGG. Whew. You live to lunchbox another day.

Jonelle Patrick is the author of the Only In Tokyo mystery series, published by Penguin/Intermix.