Making A Better Bento #2 - Don't Follow The Fads

I've noticed that a lot of bentos use highly-processed ingredients such as kamaboko, cheese, pre-cooked food items and other similar things. While there is nothing wrong with this - too much is a bad thing in this case and depending on salty and fatty options for your loved one's lunches isn't the best way to go. But let's say that you come by this amazing bento tutorial that you know just everyone would love but its filled with over-processed, high-fat, high-sodium and low nutrition foods. Well don't worry - you can still make amazing bentos without making you (or the bento-eater) as fluffy and big as the onigiri that you're making! ^^

When I first started, I was a bit in the middle with the foods I was making my bento with. For example, in this little darling I had about two servings of plain white rice with chickpeas and barely any vegetables. While it did not have much salt in it - the salted white rice gave it a lot of sugar and isn't healthy at all. Oddly, I had rarely ever eaten white rice when I became vegan (before making bentos) unless it was accompanying delicious Chinese food and even then that wasn't very common. A lot of bento makers happen to live in Japan and/or have attachments to it or another Asian country that eats large amounts of rice which means that it tends to be asserted within their cooking and lunch, especially if the bento box itself is small - meaning that you have to include a lot of filling (read; carbs) within the lunchbox. While I was raised with a pretty substantial amount of rice in my diet I came to realize that just eating rice with a few sprigs of chives was not healthy even if it was filling. The best way to get filled with rice without having to worry about the rise in blood sugar is to eat the whole and beautiful brown rice (or millet, barley or other ancient grains). If you're ever worried about not being able to shape your onigiri properly without having them be mushy with the brown rice you can either use California Grain brown rice or use a small mixture of white and brown rice for texture and health. Honestly, you shouldn't ever be dependant on rice or just one thing unless you really like it - bentos are about variety. Have pizza, pasta or sandwiches one day with a nice salad and some fresh fruit and maybe the next bento you will want to have some beet or tofu poke with brown rice onigiri. Think fresh and buy fresh!


Hey look - chopsticks! And cake...and white rice...and bread nuggets with few fresh veggies.

As in the first installation of "Making A Better Bento" you need to know about balance. If you're ever worried about not getting enough food then the first step is to check a national nutritional guide and build your bento off of that until you're confident. To fill yourself or others up then you can include an additional bento or tiny box filled with fruits, vegetables or extra beans and if it is a special treat for the day then you can splurge a bit and add some sort of sweet other than fruits...just make sure that the whole bento isn't made of cakes and candy!

Getting back to the processed foods - while you will often see me adding soy or rice cheese to my bentos I've found that it doesn't always taste the best and most of the time I simply need to get to my culinary vegan roots and make my own "cheese". If you don't feel confident enough in making your food it, then you can easily find alternatives to the cheese such as radishes, parsnips, bread, tofu, or even just plain nori! Want some vegan SPAM? Make your own with beans, tofu or whatever your heart desires - just know that when it comes to bentos you need to think OUT of the box but still work with what makes you happy.



A brown rice bento with radish eyes and lots of fresh veggies - no cheese!

You don't even have to use the boxed dyes - you can easily make your own or buy organic, plant-based dyes that are easy to process and that you don't have to worry about. For example, a little research on the wonders of fruits, dark greens, turmeric, annato, beets and red cabbage will provide you with a surplus of things to dye your bento with.


 Your "Homework": 

Vegan Kyaraben Color Chart by Disposable-Aardvarks

Delicious Brown Rice Onigiri by one hundred eggs

Natural Ways to Make Your Bento Colorful by Just Bento

Healthy Hello Kitty Kyaraben (With White Rice and veggies)

Vegan Spam

*If you have anything that you want me to add to the list or have a new topic to discuss for the next MABB then feel free to comment!