This week's Great Bento Ideas are all vegetarian! Bentos are great for anyone who has "special", or let's say not-mainstream, food requirements. Here are two vegetarian bentos that caught my eye.

First up is this simple yet colorful and appetizing bento from Farah Abedin.

It has curried garbanzo beans (chickpeas), a tomato and cucumber salad, and mixed grapes and cherry tomatoes, plus a Mini Babybel cheese - the favorite cheese of bento lovers for its size, cute shape and bright red wax coating. It looks like it's very well balanced in terms of flavors and textures as well as nutrition!

The second bento this week is from Leopard Girl.

This one features tofu and vegetable dumplings, edamame, an apple and almond-flax butter, all arranged in an attractive stripe pattern. While it's not as obvious as in the first example, this is fairly well balanced nutritionally too I think - though I might add another container of salad or other vegetable to make it truly rounded. In any case, it's a very pretty bento that looks delicious. (Tip: If you are packing cut up apple, be sure to dunk it in salted or acidulated water (water with acid like lemon) to prevent browning.)

Look out for another Great Bento Idea post next week!

(If you want your idea to catch my eye by the way, the best way is to join the Just Bento or Just Bento Bento Gear groups on Flickr and post them there. Don’t forget to post a link to your blog in the description if you have one.)