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Little Miss Bento
Bento artist, Cookbook Author & Blogger / Singapore
廚師, 食譜作者 & 部落客 / 新加坡
Although many might though she is Japanese, Shirley also know as Little Miss Bento, comes from Singapore. Her passion for cooking has reached a new level where creating a simple lunch becomes a meticulous process, involving different techniques of cooking, colored ingredients, drawing and cutting into the food, finding a perfect scenario to show the creations and keeping her audience more hungry every time she update a new post.
She is the first Singaporean to be certified as instructor by the Japan Sushi Association and her love for the Nippon country has taken her to study Japanese for two years. Little Miss Bento is now one of the most influential Kawaii / Cute blogs in the scene, collaborating with important brands, giving workshops and publishing books to help other people create their own bentos.
要和大家介紹的這位Shirley，也是大家所知曉的Little Miss Bento，很多人都以為她是日本人，但她其實來自新加坡，她對烹飪的熱情已達到一個新的水平，從做一個簡單的午餐演變成一個精緻細膩的過程，包含不同的烹飪方法、五顏六色的食材、有時以繪製和切法賦予食物不同面貌、找一個合適的完美方法顯示作品，並每次更新貼文的時候讓粉絲的饑餓感更強烈。
她是第一個得到日本壽司教師協會認證的新加坡人，也因為本身很喜歡日本而讀了兩年的日文，Little Miss Bento是目前最有影響力且非常可愛的部落格之一，與鼎鼎有名的品牌合作、舉辦研討會和出版書籍幫助更多人來創造屬於他們自己的便當。
R. Hello! Who is Little Miss Bento?
S. My name is Shirley, although most people know me by my online moniker - Little Miss Bento. I started cooking much younger when I was schooling. I guess my mom being the good cook has always encouraged us to try our hands at cooking.
R. 哈囉! 請介紹一下誰是Little Miss Bento?
S. 雖然大多數人知道我是因為我網路上的暱稱＂Little Miss Bento＂，但我叫Shirely，在我年記還小、就學的時候就開始下廚了，我想我媽媽是個好廚師，他總是鼓勵我們親自去嘗試烹飪。
R. On average how long it takes you to create a new bento?
S. About 1 hour, give or take.
R. 你做一個便當平均需要花多久時間？
S. 無論簡單與否，大約都需要至少一個小時。
R. What are your favorite ingredients or the ones you use the most?
S. I guess personally really enjoy Japanese and more Asian cooking, so the common ingredients in my bento includes rice, seaweed, tamagoyaki eggs etc.
R. 你最喜歡的食材是什麼或是你用最多的是哪一些？
S. 我想我個人真的很喜歡日式和較亞洲的食材，所以我便當裡大多出現的是米飯、海苔和玉子燒等等。
R. Have you take any course in arts or photography any to take your cooking to the next level?
S. Actually I was in the arts prior to my culinary journey. I was an Art student back in college and was a full time performing arts practitioner for many years.
However for cooking, most of my training was done in Japan. I am a certified instructor with the Japan sushi instructor association as well as with Japan Salonaise Association. However many of these training was spurred on by my personal interest to upgrade and be better. It was really not because I had a huge career goal in mind.
For photography, it was really pick up as I went. I was never trained professionally in photography, but I do enjoying styling for my shoots
R. 你有沒有上過藝術或攝影的課程，讓你的烹飪進入到一個新的階段？
S. 實際上在我展開烹飪之旅的時候，藝術是我的主修，大學時期我是藝術系學生，多年來也是全職的藝術家。不過說到烹飪，許多的培訓是在日本完成的，我是日本壽司教師協會以及日本大型烘焙教育機構的認證教師，許多訓練藉由我個人的興趣達到激勵自己進而提升和改善，而絕不是因為我擁有強大的事業心。
至於攝影，我從沒有上過專業的課程，不過當我在拍自己作品的時候我很享受。
R. What is your audience most liked bento to time?
S. Actually I havent kept track, as there are many popular postings. I think of the popular items include character sushi and some of the unexpected menu like when I turn local foods etc into character designs.
R. 哪一個便當作品的貼文最多粉絲按讚(喜歡)？
S. 我沒有特別注意，基本上很多PO文都很受歡迎，我覺得較受歡迎的應該是有人物造型的壽司和一些出乎意料的樣式，例如當我將當地食物等等加入人物設計。
R. What are your inspirations when comes to cooking?
S. I follow trends closely and personally only cook things that I will eat myself. So its not only for the camera, but it should feed the tummy too.
R. 談到烹飪，你的靈感是什麼？
S. 我跟隨現下趨勢並且只做我自己會吃的東西，所以並不只是為了拍照好看也必須是可以餵飽肚子的。
R. Some brands and restaurants have approached you to make collaborations, how is to work with big corporations?
At the beginning, it was pretty daunting yet exciting at the same time. I guess it is about value-adding with my expertise and sharing what I know with them.
S. 有一些品牌和餐廳聯繫你並共同合作，和這些大品牌一起合作的感覺如何？
起初是非常令人怯步但同時又很興奮的感覺，我覺得這對我的專業是一個很好的經驗，並且和他們分享我所知道的。
R. You are the first Singaporean to get the certification of the japan sushi instructor association. How was the process to get it?
S. It involves several round of training sessions and a final examination in Japan. We were required to make sushi without guidance, within a certain time frame and everything had a score. including demerit points if you have like a stray rice grain hanging at the side, or on your knife.
R. 你是第一個得到日本壽司教師協會認證的新加坡人，請問必經過程是怎麼樣的呢？
S. 在日本這其中經過了好幾輪培訓和一個最終的試驗，我們做壽司的時候沒有任何指導，必須在一定時間內去完成並且任何步驟、甚至是小細節都在評分範圍內，包含如果你有任何飯粒遺留在邊邊或是刀上都會被扣分。
S. I think what strikes me the most was Taiwan’s strong street food culture, especially the night markets which is very special and unique to the city. Amidst the buzz and the warmth of the friendly store owners, it is really nice to be able to enjoy quality food at very reasonable prices.
R. 你有來過台灣幾次，那麼你覺得這邊的食物文化如何？
S. 最令我感到印象深刻的是台灣的路邊攤文化，尤其是夜市，在城市中這是一個非常特別的食物文化，店家非常熱情友好，除了可以享受美食，價格也非常合理。
Check more about Little Miss Bento at www.littlemissbento.com
查看更多關於Little Miss Bento的訊息 www.littlemissbento.com
All Little Miss Bento Books > www.littlemissbento.com/book/
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All the pictures and words in this article belongs to River and Little Miss Bento and have copyright.
If you would like to use it please contact us first, we like to share.
本文中的所有圖片和文字版權由River和Little Miss Bento所有。
我們樂於分享，但若您想截取使用，請先聯繫我們。
15 January 2017
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