Free Bento Boxes in Central Park!
No, not right now… unfortunately you (and 90 percent of the people actually in attendance) missed a chance to grab one for this year. My group of four was able to snag one of the eight-compartment bento boxes at the French Institute’s Crossing the Line Opening Celebration yesterday afternoon. The free event, which took place from 2 – 6 p.m. in Central Park’s East Meadow, combined the most awkward of choreographed French dance with a variety of snack-sized treats. The highlight of the afternoon was a very unique bento box, consisting of eight items from eight different master chefs—most were French, with a cookie from David Chang representing NYC.
Despite the modest turnout due to rain, there were still not enough boxes to go around. The group only prepared a small number of boxes—perhaps 100 in all. The method of distribution seemed quite inefficient at first, and should have been an indicator of the limited supply. An MC distracted people by speaking about the boxes while volunteers walked discretely through the rear of the crowd handing out the treats, four at a time, only to those who were standing patiently, or in my case, unaware. My group was able to snag only one box, so we shared—everything from the David Chang marshmallow/corn flake cookie to the Pascal Barbot egg nog was split four ways. Everything was tasty, but the David Chang cookie seemed to be the highlight. I decided to hang on to the custom multi-layered box, dragging it around the city for the rest of the night.
