Let’s Bento, baby!

Hello Ladies, Gentlemen, Dames, and Dollfaces everywhere!

This is the inaugural post of Bento Betty, a personal devotional to divine deliciousness, delectable lunches, and daring (and yeah, a little bit dirty) dancing, all in the efforts to get healthy, and even more fabulous than before.

More than just an animal print lover (I never met a leopard print I didn’t like), I’m a lover of animals themselves. This however, is not the reason I’m a vegetarian (who occasionally eats fish). That debacle came about during a college summer job in – you guessed it – a butcher shop. It’s a traumatic and gross story, and I’ll save you from the terrible tale. Suffice to say, this blog will feature easy to prepare Vegetarian Bentos.

Not sure what ‘bento’ is, or why it’s becoming a trend for penny-pinchers, wieghtwatchers, and foodfiends the world over? Simply to say that bento is a japanese-style boxed lunch defies the art and the love that goes into making bento. It can be based around a variety of cuisines, tastes, and styles, but the consistentency of bento lies in the loving arrangement of healthy, delicious, flavourful foods.

Built in portion-control, homemade money-saving, and foxy, innovative cooking makes Bento a whole lot more than a boxed lunch. Follow this link, and read Makiko( of Just Bento fame)’s blog post for more.

While Makiko give’s you a breakdown of bento basics, I’ll give you the tips and tricks learned from a busy (and occasionally lazy) white girls’ initiation into the world of bento.

However, before I give you my Beginner Bento Tips and Tricks, I’m gonna lay some knowledge on you. Bento, like burlesque, bubble baths, and boxes of chocolates, is all about taking care of and loving yourself in the best way possible. A beautiful boxed lunch made by you, for you, filled with the things you like, ready and waiting for you in the middle of a tough day of work is a little bit of public self-love. It’s food exhibitionism, and you’ve got to be okay with that, because babycakes, you deserve it.

Betty’s  Beginner Bento Tips and Tricks (in no particular order)

1. Don’t underestimate the power of left-overs. The modern soul is both busy and lazy, which makes whipping up a whole new meal for lunch a little bit crazy for the masses. When you’re cooking a delicious dinner, make extra for the next day’s lunch. Foods like risotto, cornbread, chili, quiche and burgers can all be transformed into different eats, if you feel the need for versatility, and a lot of traditional or even transformed left-overs can be stored in the freezer for the lazy morning after the even lazier night before
2. Be a boy-scout (or a girl-scout): Always be prepared. The weekend is a great time to put in a little extra effort to create prime bento eats (and pre-made dinner during the week for the days you don’t want to cook too much), especially if they’re time consuming or involved. Even spending a little extra time planning your weekly menu, or the night before can make a difference between a bad cafeteria lunch, or a blissful bento the next day.
   
3. Love your self, love your food – Make it healthy and delicious. It’s easy to buy pre-packaged fatty foods, or to slack and stick in a few slices of pizza. And let’s not kid ourselves, because sometimes a body just needs a little bit of sinful, comforting foods. But that shouldn’t fill your bento box all the time. Healthy, seasonal, and (dare I add organic, local, sustainable) fresh fare. Not only will your slimming waistline thank you, but so will your skin,your digestion, and your tastebuds.
   
4. Size matters – use proper portions. Bento boxes come in a variety of different sizes for different kinds of eaters: kids, ladies, and even manly men can have their own size, which makes it tough sometimes to know not only how to pack a bento, but how much of what to pack in a bento. Follow the national food guide for ratios, borrow Just Bento’s portions, or you could follow mine: (which is generally)  Vegetables/Fruit (3), Carbohydrates (1), Protein (1). 3:1:1
   
5. Bits and bites: Finger food. Bite sized veggies and fruits can really uplift a simple bento box, and provide a hungry stomach something to snack on during the day. Not only that, but they’re easier to pack, provide a healthy filler, and give some color to even the most blah box.
6. Do your homework. My friends think I have an unhealthy obsession with research. They aren’t wrong. But that doesn’t mean I’m not right. When you find yourself bored on a weekday, browse through blogs, foodie websites, and your favorite chef’s webpages to get new recipes, creative ideas, and a whole new palate for bento boxes, so you can always keep things fresh, instead of getting bored with the same rerun meals.

Starting tomorrow, I’ll be providing recipes and pictures as I prep my bentos for the week. Hopefully you’ll take a gander at what I’ve got cookin’.

Love,

Betty.