Bento Basics

Rather than go into lengthy explanations of what is a bento and why it's such a good lunch option, I'm going to try and describe it in a few words...

Boxed lunch
Eco-friendly and Economical
Neat and Nice
Tonifying
Original

In short, bento is a form of art that will help you eat healthy and beautiful meals while saving money and the planet's resources!

Tofu, rice and crunchy cucumber!

As I mentionned above, the aim of this blog is not to give yet another definition of what a bento looks like, what it is made of, and so on, but rather to redefine it _vegan style.
The "rule" of proportions in traditional bento is to have:

-4 parts vegetable
-3 parts protein
-2 parts cereal
-1 part condiment, fruit or dessert

For vegan bento, it is clear that the "3 parts protein" is much more flexible than in traditional bento.
It is true that you can easily replace the fish or meat by their vegan replacements. But if you want to add protein to your meal without buying the easy vegetarian/vegan options like soya protein or tofu, you can simply include ingredients that contain a high percentage of protein (nuts, cereals, etc). This is when the border between "protein" and the other three categories becomes a little blurry.
I would say do not worry too much about having the protein separate all the time, although it is sometimes nice to have substitutes like tofu, vegetable mince or even vegetable wiener to recerate the same designs and decorations that make Japanese bento so adorable and unique!

The most important is really to make sure that you compose a healthy vegan meal!
Here is an example of common ingredients (by this I mean easy to buy) that you can include in your bento to add some protein:

-beans and lentils
-seeds and nuts
-hummous
-beansprouts
-wholegrains