This chapter is all about the smell of food. It's not just the food that's bad, it's also the way the food smells. The smell of the meat and egg in the bento is so bad that it makes the food smell like it was made in the past, even though the food is just bento. The only thing that makes this bento different from the other bentos is that the meat is seared and the sauce is spicy. The meat is so good, in fact, that the narrator is convinced that he can finish the meal in under ten minutes.