A grinning bear digs into a plate of omurice — the Japanese omelette-and-rice dish, with a heart drawn on top in ketchup. Thick outlines and very few lines inside them, so there is almost nothing to stay within; a good one to put in front of a child while you talk about food, at the table or in class. Free to download and print.
Omurice is ketchup-seasoned fried rice wrapped in a thin omelette. It is a Japanese invention from the early twentieth century, part of the yoshoku tradition of Western-style dishes reworked for Japanese kitchens; restaurants in both Tokyo and Osaka have long claimed to have served it first. The ketchup heart or message drawn on top is the part children remember.
🐻 What do bears actually eat?
Wild bears eat nuts, berries, roots, insects, fish and — famously — the contents of bees’ nests. What they are after is not only the honey: the grubs and pupae in the comb are rich in protein, and a bear will often go for those first. Nor are they immune to being stung. Thick fur protects most of the body, but the nose and the skin around the eyes are bare, and a bear stung there will back off.
🎨 How do you make the food look good enough to eat?
Keep the omelette a bright, warm yellow, and press a little harder along its lower curve so the egg reads as rounded rather than flat. The ketchup heart wants a strong red and the parsley a deep green — two small areas of saturated colour against one large soft one. Leave the plate white; that is what makes the food look like food.
