Just Bento

i agree with emily (the poster preceding me)

I like learning flavor mixing types of posts; furiyake, sauces, and many different ways to make soups after making a basic soup base. I also enjoy anything rolled, miniature, meatballs or stuffed. I eat meat, but also enjoy veggie dishes, so either way on that.

I love reading the Japanese recipes, but I’d also love to see a few more Westernized bento ideas. I eat a healthy, whole-foods diet, but it’s very definitely a Western healthy, whole-foods diet. (I’m also in an area where my access to ethnic foods/ingredients is limited.) I love, for example, recipes where what you do with the white rice can easily be used on brown rice.

I wouldn’t want to suggest you do away with the Japanese recipes and character of the site (I’ve learned to make a few things I really like, but can’t get locally, so that’s awesome!), but I would love more inspiration for my Midwestern bentos. :)

(I also particularly liked the instructions for dehydrating your own soup, that was great!)

I love fish, but I’m hopeless in preparing it. If you happen to have ways of dealing with frozen fish, that’d be great, because I live in the desert and can’t get fresh fish. We loved the shiozake recipe!

I’d like to see more Tofu recipes! I’m a 20-something actor, and good meat (i. e. meat that had a happy, healthy life) is expensive. Tofu is $00.89 at the store!

Also, I’d love to see more explanations and uses for Japanese products. I live and work quite close to the largest Asian grocery in the midwest (lucky me! http://www.unitednoodles.com/), and I’m always trying to find new things to spice up my daily routine.

I voted for more vegan recipes, but that’s really only because I’m wary of dairy or eggs being left in my bento unrefrigerated (the refrigerator at work NEVER has any room), and I don’t eat meat. And I agree with Ariel, more tofu, please! I always have tofu in the fridge and can only eat so much pan-fried, deep-fried or scrambled tofu…

Of course, I’d like more “easy to make” recipes or recipes that can be frozen— most of my bento stash comes from freezer items (rice, onion and pepper confit, soboro, etc.) since I don’t have a ton of time to cook in the morning. In the same vein, time-saving tips are always great, too.

I voted for more vegetarian. What I’d really like to see though is some Shojin recipes, you just don’t find those anywhere and it would be interesting to learn about.

I’d love to see some ideas for kid-friendly items! :D

I’d love to see more fish recipes! I adore fish, but the husband and children only like the battered and deep fried stuff you can find at LJS. But, they all want their bentos too. Pesky!

I’d like to see more recipes that are easily flexible —> i.e., I can switch up ingredients, add in meat if I have extra leftover, or use up some leftover veggies in it.

I voted for vegan recipes. I think these should take precedence over vegetarian recipes since they can be eaten by everyone, yet vegetarian recipes and omnivore recipes cannot. Furthermore I agree with KC in wanting to see shojin ryori recipes. In particular it would be great if you knew how to make sesame tofu. The traditional sesame tofu, which resembles tofu in texture and presentation, but is actually made of a mixture of pulverized white sesame, water and kuzu ko starch.

By the way, I love the site and look forward to more vegan recipes!