This study is to report the contents in the boxed lunches of athletes at a women’s junior college during their athletic festival. Forty-five female student athletes were surveyed about their dietary preferences, which included a Japanese-inspired menu, meats, rice with assorted ingredients, rice balls and other dishes that were not spicy. They preferred carbohydrate-rich lunch boxes with a caloric total of between 400 and 599 calories which cost between 300 and 499 Japanese yen. In a previous report, nutritional balance and flavor mostly influenced their choice of a lunchbox, whereas color coordination, size of ingredients, and volume of the dishes did not. Based on all those above stated factors, new boxed lunches were produced. The survey after the thirty female athletes had tried the new creation indicated that nutritional balance and flavor were the most important factors in satisfying their requirement for a lunch box. They did not prefer excessive volume of a lunch box. Color coordination and size of ingredients were not even discussed. These results illustrated that we need to focus on nutritional balance and flavor to produce a satisfying boxed lunch for the athletic festival.
