The Bento Box Snapshot: A Week of Pareve

Much like my summer internship last year, I really have had to focus on what I am able to eat for my job as the camp’s art specialist. As I mentioned before, the community center I work at is Jewish-oriented, as is the camp, so that meant following their dietary laws as well. In the beginning it was impossible to tell which meats the kids brought to camp were kosher, so all lunches are now required to be either dairy or pareve.

BBS 1: Carrot risotto, fresh veggies, mozzarella, and daily apple

Since I’m not Jewish, I was worried about offending people with the food I brought. Regardless of my food intolerances, I took on the challenge to make a week of bento lunches that:

1. Observed the dairy and/or pareve rule as written in Judaic law
2. Consisted of things I could and would eat
3. Were nutritionally balanced
4. Kept me full until dinner

Let’s just say that all my lunches were total successes.

BBS 2: Homemade hummus, rice, and dipping veggies (not shown)

For one thing, I learned that size does matter for a bento box. The one Daddy-O gave me last Saturday on our way back from the National Harbor is just perfect for my active lifestyle and appetite. It is two-tiered, which gave me the ability to either make two small meals, or one lunch with a variety of ingredients.

Much of what I packed were leftovers from dinners the night before, tons of veggies, and freshly made spreads like guacamole and hummus. Beans and rice were common, though I did enjoy tuna salad spring rolls and salmon cakes immensely. Cottage cheese and blueberries showed up twice on the top tier (the one that is split into two separate compartments) upon finding that I loved the combination.

BBS3: Salmon cakes, quinoa salad, cottage cheese & blueberries

I hope to have another week of Bento Box Snapshots this time next Sunday, along with: other recipes that may or may not end up in my lunch box, food from my family’s July 4th festivities (i.e., a Grill day), and the camp’s field trip picking blueberries.

Goodness, I love summer.

BBS 4: Tuna salad spring rolls, and cottage cheese with blueberries (not shown)