Japanese with Manga

Packing the side dishes with お弁当箱につめる

Vocabulary Explanation: Collocations for cooking

In a kitchen, Taiki's mother turns from the counter and shouts toward Taiki. On the counter in front of her sit plates of food, food containers, and two open lunch boxes. The back of Taiki's head shows at the right edge of the panel.
アオのハコ » Volume 10 » Page 151

It’s morning at the Inomata house. Taiki shuffles into the kitchen half asleep and mumbles a good morning to his mother, who is at the counter getting the day’s lunches ready.

お母(かあ)さん:
「大喜(たいき)っ　そこのおかずお弁当箱(べんとうばこ)につめて！」
“Taiki! Pack those side dishes into the lunch boxes!”
Literal: “Taiki! Pack the side dishes there into the lunch boxes!”

Key Points

1おかずを弁当箱(べんとうばこ)に詰(つ)める = to pack the side dishes into a lunch box
  • 詰(つ)める means to pack or stuff something into a container until it’s full. Japanese uses it for filling a lunch box: you don’t put food in a lunch box, you 詰(つ)める it. She writes the verb in kana, つめて.
  • The parts follow a fixed pattern: the food takes を, and the container takes に. The same pattern shows up outside the kitchen, as in 荷物(にもつ)をかばんに詰(つ)める, “to pack your things into a bag.”
  • おかず are the dishes eaten alongside rice. In a お弁当(べんとう), they fill one section of the box and rice fills the other.
2The dropped を
  • In full, the line would be おかずをお弁当箱(べんとうばこ)につめて. Casual speech often drops を, especially in a quick instruction like this one. に stays because it shows where the food goes.
3そこの = the ones there
  • そこの points to things near the listener or within reach. She means the food already laid out on the counter.
4つめて！ = a casual request
  • A bare て-form works as a request between family members. Without ください or ね, it sounds hurried, which fits a parent rushing through the morning.
  • The small っ in 大喜(たいき)っ cuts the name short and makes it sound like a sharp call to get his attention.

Vocabulary

(There)

そこ points to a place near the listener or one just mentioned. It can also point to a matter just raised, as in そこは “on that point”.

(Side dish)

おかず is a dish eaten with rice, such as meat, fish, or vegetables.

(To pack; to stuff)

つめる means to pack things tightly into a container, such as food into a lunch box or clothes into a bag. It also means to close up a gap, as when people squeeze together to make room. It is also written 詰(つ)める.

See Also

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