Unfortunately the quality of the Obento is not what it used to be. UA has substantially reduced the quality of the Obento.
A big piece of warm fish (a wanna be ann-kake, but tasting more so like a watered down version of teriyaki) has been put in as the main dish in lieu of the samplings of many different types of dishes which is what Kaiseki-Bento is all about. I also think the sodium level is higher now.
United's Obento used to be very impressive surpressing that of JL's C class. I used to enjoy the seasonal change of ingredients and dishes -a charicataristic of Japanese cuisine- and the 30+ items. The current Obento looks more like a stewed Teriyaki Fish dinner.
Pretty much the same out of LAX, SFO, NRT, JFK and even KIX ( Shame on Osaka - food capital of Japan)! As disappointed as I am, I keep on ordering it in the hopes of the return of the old Obento.

Please do not judge an Obento by what is served on UA recently.

No obento meals are offered on United's Economy class cabin, but UA offers a few Japanese appetizers, such as soba noodles and sushi with bean curd slices as side dishes. Of course, the meals will occasionally seen the teriyaki dishes (American definition of Japanese meals).

Carfield

Just a thought...

What if the your travel agent uses Galileo or Apollo as their reservations system? If you happen to know the "code" for the Obento meal and ask them to enter it as a "special meal" even if you are travelling in Economy, what will happen? (each special meal as a code)

I'm just guessing, but I would assume that since there are distinct Special Meal quality differences between First and Business, that when you plug in the code for say, Veggie, the system knows by your booking class if it is to order up an F or a C Veggie.

So if you put in the code for Obento, and your booking class was Y, it might bounce back an error to the operator, as there is no Obento/Y pairing in the system?

You could give it a try though.