Review: Feeding Change Chickpea Miso

I was delighted the other day when I found another company making soy-free miso paste.  Feeding Change makes a Chickpea Miso paste that is "soy-free", "gluten-free" and (most importantly) "GMO-free".   It also claims to be 100% certified organic (awesome!).

Feeding Change's Chickpea Miso paste is smooth, sweet and salty tasting, and very delicious in cup of soup.  It's a sweet miso, meaning that it has a short (less than a year) fermentation period.  The website says it's a 60 day process, which is more than double most sweet miso ferments.  It's packaged in glass, with a plastic label and plastic lined metal lid. (Why the sudden interest in plastic in packaging? More on that later this week).

This miso paste is also Unpasteurized, which has it's advantages, and disadvantage (I'll get to that).  It is also Vegan Friendly.


After trying this paste in a few things, including my favourite breakfast cuppa-miso (I put some miso paste in a cup and pour hot water on it), I've come to the conclusion that there are definitely some aspects of this miso paste that I adore, and some serious room for improvement.

The thing I like best about Feeding Change Miso is the taste.  It's sweet and salty, has a smooth miso flavour, but not overpowering; has a smooth chickpea flavour, but again, not overpowering.  How to describe it?  The flavour is suitably strong, but not so aggressive that it can't be drunk on an empty stomach.

"Miso Happy There's No Soy", a slogan from Feeding Change's website.  With my sensitivity to soy and growing concerns about the sustainability of agriculture, having gmo-free, soy-free alternatives like this make my day.

Their website also claims that this chickpea miso paste is made (or at least hand stirred) in wooden vats - way to go for using traditional and renewable materials in production.  What they mean by double fermented, however, I don't know.  Unless they are referring to the koji growing part of production as a fermentation.  The word fermentation has so many uses these days, it's becoming quite the catch all.  But koji is a vital part of making real miso, so I'm glad they are including it.

Feeding Change Chickpea Miso is also a few dollars less than other chick pea miso(s) on the market right now. Every penny counts these days, and the only way I know to get a more affordable soy-free miso is to make it yourself.


And now for the needs improvement part of the blog post.  As much as I am enjoying this product, there are some areas the company can improve on.

First, the packaging.  Kudos to Feeding Change for using glass jar.  Not only is plastic touching food an increasing health concern, plastic waste (as I'm learning) is a major environmental issue and could doom us all if not dealt with soon.  However, plastic label on the jar indicates to me that they didn't think the plastic-free packaging all the way through.  The plastic on the inside of the lid is (more or less) unavoidable, and it's better than having the metal corrode into the food.

Next, I noticed that when I got the jar home and went to open it, there was an immense amount of internal pressure in the jar.  The lid shot off the top and landed on the far side of the room.  As startling as this is, it's not a health concern (like it would be in pasteurized food), it simply means that the miso paste has continued to ferment in the jar.  Being unpasteurized has major health advantages, however, it also means that the ferment will continue to 'breath' and gas build up is not uncommon.  I'm grateful that the jar was strong enough to contain the pressure, but I wonder how much longer it would have lasted before exploding.  Perhaps the miso paste was subjected to a prolonged period of un-refrigeration (or whatever the proper word is to describe being room temperature) during shipping or storage?  It certainly wasn't out of the fridge long enough on the journey home from the store to explain it.

As it was when first opened fresh from the store.
Not the tidiest presentation.

Another aspect of the packaging they need to improve is the size of the jar.  The jar is far too large for the product size which can lead the customer to feel short changed.  Though, I did check, that the weight of the chickpea miso paste (without jar) is as it states on the label (it is).  Still, having all that open space inside the brand new jar of miso has that negative psychological impact.

Again, as it was when first opened.
Notice the gap in the top and the large air bubble in the bottom right.

But that's not the biggest problem with the packaging.  Like the now defunct Organic Lives Chickpea Miso, another company with good ideas and lots of potential out of Vancouver,  There are a lot of air pockets in the miso.  When miso is packed with air pockets, it leaves it open for the possibility of mold growth.  Considering that koji (an essential ingredient in miso) is mold, the problem isn't one of safety.  The potential problem is two fold.  first, the  perception (so much of selling something relies on perception) that all mold is bad for us - not true - but still a prevailing meme in our society.  The other problem with mold growing in pockets of air is that it causes the miso around that pocket to develop a musty, unpleasant flavour.

These problems in packaging are very amateur and the company should have figured this out with the minimal research.  The Book of Miso talks a lot about this, and that's pretty much the go to English language book for learning how to produce miso both at home and commercially.

I'm confident as the company grows, they will find ways to improve their packaging.



One final thing, and please forgive me, I'm just being nitpicky here, however, the website brags that the Chickpea Miso paste is grain free - yet, the last time I checked (and every time before that), rice, a main ingredient in miso, is a grain.


Am I going to buy this again?  Yes, I think I will, especially if they fix how it is packaged in the jar.  Feeding Change is off to a good start with this product, and I can't wait to see how they evolve.

Talking about Craftsy Class, Favorite Asian Dumplings from Scratch with Andrea Nguyen

Today is the day we gave up Television in our house.  With The Ancient (a great fan of Jeopardy) in long term care at hospital, and not likely to return home soon, it didn't make sense to keep the idiot box hooked up.  So we took our cable gadgets down to the company and said - thank you, no thanks.

Aside from my daily dose of Columbo, I don't think I'll miss it.  There are so many other exciting things to do, like cleaning the house (okay, that one's not exciting), trying new recipes, sewing bags, playing with yarn, reading books... and so on.  How do people get bored?

And when it happens that I do miss TV, I can always borrow a film from my local library or better still, watch videos online of people telling us how to cook stuff (which doesn't happen on TV much these days anyway - reality cooking competitions are repetitive).

Not long ago, I signed up for one of Craftsy's promotional deals and decided to take a couple of their classes.  I started with knife skills, and it made a huge difference to my confidence in the kitchen.

The Craftsy classes include in depth videos, usually some sort of instructional document, and a question and answer section where you can discuss what you watch with the instructor and other students.  It's quite clever really, and long over due.  Finally, a place that gathers together some useful expertise and makes it available (for a price) to an Average Jane like me.

They are suppose to look like a nurse's cap

The Favorite Asian Dumpling class by Andrea Nguyen has inspired me greatly.  For some reason, I didn't even imagine that people could make dumplings in their own home.  Why this never occurred to me, I don't know, it's just one of those blind spots I guess.


This class has been so inspiring.  Nguyen has great enthusiasm for her cooking, and lots of little tips to share about how to improve your technique.  What I like best is how easy she makes it look, but what amazing results she creates.

What's even more amazing is that it really is that simple.

This is the shrimp wonton soup.  It took me about an hour the first time I made it, but most of that was getting over my trepidation at trying new techniques.  Second try was considerably faster.

To be honest, I found shrimp dumplings a bit bland on their own, so I decided to add some finely diced pickled ginger to the second batch - much better.

And look, I got a new steamer!  I have a big project coming up where I need to steam a few pounds of barley, so I took a trip to China town and brought home big and little steamer sets.  The little steamer is for practice, and the big one for ... well, big steaming.

Apparently dumplings overcook really quickly in a steamer and get chewy.  Now I know something new.

Is it affordable to make dumplings?  I think it depends on the filling.  4 servings of dumplings took 200g of prawns, which comes to about $10 here.  Plus another $1 for the rest of the ingredients (plus $5 for the soup).  But a different filling (like pork or kimchi - recipes and videos also included in the class) would be a lot more affordable.

On the whole I'm thrilled and am eager to try some of the other recipes included in the class.

Some amazing things you can make with Fil Mjolk, Viili and other room temperature yoghurts.

After my previous adventures with Viili the shop sent me a replacement culture.  Since they were so helpful, and I know other people who have had good success with their cultures in the past, I decided to order some Fil Mjolk (also spelled Filmjolk) starter at the same time.  I'm so glad I did.

Viili and Fil Mjolk are considered room temperature yoghurt cultures.  In that you do not need a yoghurt maker or insulator to make them, rather you can culture them at room temperature.  Very awesome.  They probably aren't actually yoghurt in the true sense of the word, but English does not seem to have a word for this and it beats calling them 'cultured milk products' every time.  The taste and texture is also like yoghurt, so we call them that on the basis that they share the same qualities.

The Viili is yummy and tastes a lot like The Captain remembers real yoghurt tasting like, but it's tricky to culture.  It takes a lot longer than Fil Mjolk, is fussy about temperature, and it requires you monitor it frequently and not miss the point where it sets - that's a bit more bother than I like in a fermented food.

What I demand from a fermented food (and just about every food) is that it be flexible.  That it is quick to prepare and can be put on hold if something happens.  That it can grow in just about any temperature range, with the understanding that there may be an alteration in flavour and timing.  That it can be used to make several different things, and that if I'm suddenly called away and miss the deadline, it will happily wait for me.  Fil Mjolk does all this for me.

I'm going to keep going with the Viili, but more as a snacking yoghurt than anything else.  The Viili is flexible in that I can use it to make a drink, yoghurt, and two different cheese (with whey left over for other uses).  I can do all this with the Fil Mjolk as well as making butter, buttermilk and buttermilk cheese.  But the taste between the two is very different.  Each has it's unique charm.

Here are some of the amazing things I've made with my Fil Mjolk (and sometimes Viili).

Yoghurt drink (Viili and Fil Mjolk)

I haven't tried this yet, not on purpose anyway, but by culturing a low fat milk, or not letting the culture work long enough, I ended up with a thick liquid.  Soon, I want to try blending this with fresh fruit for a yoghurt drink.

Yoghurt (Viili and Fil Mjolk)

This is pretty easy, you start with one Tbs of the old batch per cup of milk in the new batch.  Mix well, cover with a cloth, and leave at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours till set.  Put in fridge for 6 hours before removing starter for next batch and enjoying the rest.  At least that's what the instructions say, and it works well for the Viili.

For the Fil Mjolk, I find I only really need 1 teaspoon of starter (old batch) per cup of milk.  Adding less, takes longer to go firm, but it has two advantages:  It's less sensitive to timing, and it makes a lovely sour taste.

For a thicker yoghurt, use cream, for a thinner yoghurt, use milk.

Yoghurt cheese (left out method) with live culture whey (Viili and Fil Mjolk)

This is easy, and I discovered it by mistake.  I forgot that I had some yoghurt culturing, and when I found it two days later, it had distinct curds and whey (it had clabbered, what a great word, clabber).  I used some cheesecloth to strain the curds four about 12 hours, then I mixed a pinch of salt (per 2 cups of yoghurt used) in with the curds.  It made an almost creamy cheese, with a bit of sour taste like cottage cheese.

The whey from this is fantastic.  It has live culture in it, which can be used to add probiotics to your food.

Yoghurt cheese (cooked method) with cooked whey (Viili and Fil Mjolk)

To make this cheese, I heat up the yoghurt in a pan, stirring frequently.  Forget the thermometer.  If it boils, it's too hot, if you see the yoghurt curdle, then it's hot enough.   I strained this for 18 hours, or for a night and a morning, then mixed a pinch of salt (per two cups of yoghurt used) in with the curds.  It made a fantastic cream cheese that would be great savoury or sweet.  I think I might make a cheese cake for christmas using this.

The whey from this is cooked, not live culture, but it's still jam packed full of nutrients.  Use it in soups, bread, and anywhere else to substitute some or all of the water in a recipe.

Cultured Butter and Buttermilk (Fil Mjolk)

I've posted the instructions for regular and cultured butter here.  I'm surprised how easy it is to make, and I adore how it tastes.  I wait for the cream to be on sale at $1.99 per litre, then I buy them out.  The milk usually expires in one or two days, so culturing it helps the butter last longer.

Per litre of cream I get one pound of butter and half a litre of buttermilk, which can be used to make cheese and whey, or used as is in baking and cooking and drinking.

So far I've only tried it with Fil Mjolk.  I don't know if it would work with Viili, or if it did, if the taste would be good.  One day I'll give it a try.

Buttermilk Cheese and resulting whey (Fil Mjolk)

Made the same way as Yoghurt Cheese (cooked method) above, but use the leftover buttermilk from making butter.  Can be made with buttermilk made with uncultured butter, but you may want to leave this buttermilk at room temperature for about 24 hours before hand to sour it.

Update: Tried this yesterday.  It didn't make as much cheese as I would like, but I don't think I heated it up enough.  Taste is good and now I have some whey for bread baking tomorrow.



Did you notice how I avoided using quantities to tell you how it's made?  You don't need it, just the ratios.  So many recipes require gallons of milk and to be frank, most people don't want to make that large a batch.  You can make butter with half a cup of cream, or with 18 gallons, the method and ratios are the same.  Same with the yoghurt cheese.  If you have one cup of yoghurt that's been in the fridge too long, then use that, if you have more, then use that.  Salt to taste, but use at least one pinch per cup of finished cheese for preservation.  Or eat it faster and leave out the salt all together.

These are recipes for everyone.  They don't need fancy equipment or knowhow.  The only knowhow you need is to tell thick from thin, how to stir, and for the cheese to tell when milk curdles (it gets lumps in it). They are very forgiving if you get the measurements wrong, and the Fil Mjolk is kind enough to work in a wide range of temperature (65 F to 75F).



So is this affordable?  Oh yes!  It's a great way to take advantage of about-to-expire-therefore-on-sale milk and cream.  When I do this, it ends up costing about 1/4 the price of buying the already made products in the store.  And I know exactly what goes in making this, so know how healthy it is.

Allergies:  Well, you always have milk allergies to think about, however let me share something with you.  I've always been sensitive to milk, since I was a couple of months old, especially cow's milk.  And yet, on occasion, in some parts of the world, and only specific brands of milk, I can enjoy milk products with no negative effect whatsoever.  I don't know if it's something they feed (or don't feed) their cows, but I suspect it's something in the pasteurization process.  The organic milk from Avalon Dairy is one of those milks I can have no problem.  Their non-organic products have some effect, but when cultured with Fil Mjolk or Viili, they don't bother my gut either.

I suspect, that it may be possible, that some people with milk sensitivities will be able to enjoy milk products made with traditional milk cultures.  Maybe they can eat cultured butter but not regular butter.  But each person is different and if you do give it try, let me know how it turns out.

Transitional: So basically, these are easy to make, more affordable than the commercially made products, less wasteful than said products, and more variety than said products.  On top of that, you have the probiotics from the yoghurt cultures.  This is an excellent way to transition from dependence on big buisness.

Review: Organic Lives Chickpea Miso paste (soy free)

Organic Lives, a company out of Vancouver (although the miso is a product of the USA) makes a rather yummy sweet miso paste from chickpeas.  I'm always thrilled to find a soy-free alternative to my favourite Japanese foods, so I picked up a bottle from my local health food shop.

Although I am a die hard fan of South River Miso chickpea miso, it's not always easy to get here.  The shipping direct from the company is prohibitive, and I only know of one health food shop that gets it in (twice a year), so I have to be quick to snatch up my bottles.  The great thing about South River, is that the miso paste seems to last forever in the fridge and only tastes better the longer I leave it.  I found a jar of chickpea miso while cleaning the fridge the other day, it had been in there at least a year and tasted fantastic.

But like I said, the supply is inconsistent.  Organic Lives is filling a well needed gap in the market.

What I like best about the Organic Lives chickpea miso (aside from it being soy free) is the flavour.  It's a nice balance of sweet and salty.  It is a smooth paste and easy to blend into your broth (much easier to work with than the South River chickpea miso which is quite chunky).

You can see the texture difference between the two

I also really like that they used sprouted chickpeas.  As far as I can tell, this is unique to this company.  This is fascinating and I would love to learn more about this process and what effects it has on the nutritional value of the finished paste.   I understood that the fermentation process makes more nutrients available from the  beans, but if sprouting adds another degree of nutrition... well, it's very interesting to me.

Because this is a sweet miso, in other words it's aged in weeks instead of years, the rice in it is still a bit crunchy.

Which brings me to my next point... The bottle brags about being aged for 60 days!  Whereas South River chickpea miso is a 1 year miso.  Most customers are use to labels bragging about how many years old the miso paste is, not days.   What they do not realize is that there are different - yet traditional - methods for making miso.  Some miso methods are ready in as little as two weeks, others need at least four years.  They each have different flavours and unique benefits. Without educating the customers about this, bragging about only ageing the paste for 60 days is not necessary the best idea.


The one thing I really do not like about the Organic Lives chickpea miso paste is the way it's been put in the jar.  For starters, I think the jar is too large for the volume of paste, leaving lots of airspace at the top and a feeling when you open it that you are being short changed on your dollar.

Second, it isn't packed down firmly into the jar, leaving air pockets where mould can grow - sure it's not bad mould, miso after all is made from carefully cultured mouldy grain and beans.  Although it is safe to eat, the mould growing in air pocked can cause a musty flavour to the paste around the offending air bubble.

Can you see the white tinge of mould starting to develop
near the bottom of the jar?
This is probably Koji mould, and harmless, but preventable.

To me, this displays a level of amateur behaviour that I do not like to see in a company that prepares my food.  If I didn't already know about the mechanics of making miso paste, I would be freaked out to find mould in a jar fresh from the store.  And yes, being alive, miso will continue to ferment and produce gas after it is bottled, but there are steps to make to prevent these air pockets from forming and make it more customer friendly They have either skipped them or not bothered to do their research.

This makes me nervous.




However, I do like the flavour of Organic Lives miso paste, and there is nothing harmful to my health in their packaging mistake. It's not necessarily my first choice, but it makes a fair enough substitute for when I cannot find any better soy-free miso.

Cuppa miso soup, green onions, miso to taste,
 and water that boiled about five minutes ago.

Cook Book Review - Wild Fermentation by Sandor Ellix Katz

Wild Fermentation is full of delicious recipes and is now part of my core collection of cook books.  I give it a solid 8 out of 10.  There is excellent cometary about nutrition and tradition surrounding fermented foods, including the difference between yeast fermentation (like natural sodas and alcoholic), lacto fermentation, and other live culture foods like vinegar.  The recipes included in the book are very casual and many of them work very well without any additional thinking on the part of the cook.

I tried a few recipes from this book including sauerkraut, kim chi, and am almost finished brewing my very first beer, Bouza, or Ancient Egyptian beer.  Other recipes in the book, like hard cider (what we call cider in these parts), sourdough, and Nuka pickles are pretty close to what I already have brewing in my kitchen - only mine seem to be in larger batches ;)

Most of the recipes in this book have been adapted for ingredients common to North America.  So for example, the Nuka pickle paste is made with wheat bran instead of rice bran.


Here are some of the goodies I made from this book.

Sauerkraut

 I think this might be the single most delicious cabbage in the world!

Home made sauerkraut is AMAZING!

And so simple.

Before now, I was always sad about sauerkraut.  I wanted to like it, in fact I really liked the after taste, but I had to get through the start taste to enjoy it.  Usually I go through these fits, usually in the fall, where my body wants to eat it, so I buy jars and jars of it, but can never really find a good way to consume it.  Commercial sauerkraut is so soggy and, for lack of a better word, wimpish.

Homemade sauerkraut not so.  It's crunchy, it's delightfully salty, it's fresh.  I can't even tell you properly how good it is!  But I can tell you, this is not at all like the commercial stuff.

Homemade Kim Chi

I took the ingredients in the kim chi recipe and made it the same way as the sauerkraut.  I liked this recipe because the ingredients list was very casual.  I didn't have onions or green onions in the house, but I did have some baby leeks in the garden.  Garlic, well, I used two buds.  I also didn't have the recommended cabbage, but my favourite Kim Chi is made from Su choy cabbage anyway.  I also added some baby dried anchovies for flavour and nutrition.  If we can add fish sauce and (in other recipes) dried shrimp, why not anchovies?  (note, leave the fish and fish sauce out if you are serving this to Vegans)

As for how it turned out... well, it doesn't taste like any Kim Chi I've ever eaten.  I have a Korean friend who makes traditional Kim Chi for most of the restaurants in town as well as a few shops.  She says that ginger is almost never added to kim chi and if it is added, maybe 1/4 a tsp per cabbage is excessive.  The recipe in this book called for 3Tbs.

But you know what, it still tastes great.  Maybe not what I'm use to, but as far as pickled veg go, I'm more than willing to eat this on a daily basis, and maybe try my hand at making some more again soon.


A few of the recipes are not as good.  Some of the instructions don't make sense.  For example, for the beer recipe I mentioned above, we make a loaf of bread and are suppose to cook the outside but leave the inside raw.  But the temperature and time given for the cooking are in no way adequate.  I'll talk more about this recipe in another post, when it's drinking time.


Because of the casual approach to method and ingredients, this isn't a good book for those who are timid in the kitchen.   I know a lot of people who can cook wonderful meals so long as they have a good recipe to follow.  But ask them to substitute an ingredient or give them a recipe that is vague about stirring or whisking the eggs, and they are lost beyond redemption.  This book is not for those people.


Vegan friendly:  Yes!  I would say most if not all recipes are vegan friendly or can be easily adapted for vegan requirements.

Allergy friendly: Depends on your allergy.  If you have a strong yeast allergy then stay away from the breads, sodas, and alcohol.  I would love to see the miso section include recipes or tips for making miso with beans other than soy.  On the whole, most recipes can be modified to accommodate allergies.  There are even some low-salt options for several of the recipes - like making sauerkraut in wine instead of salt.


Like I said earlier this is now par of my core collection of cook books.  I've enjoyed making, and especially eating, recipes from this book.  I've even taken to eating sauerkraut for breakfast.  But given the small adjustments that some recipes require and that sometimes the recipes are a bit too vague, I can only give it 8 out of 10.

Cook Book Review: Hello, Bento!

Hello, Bento! - A Collection of Simple Japanese Bento Recipes is all about making a packed lunch, Japanese style.

I give this book a reluctant six out of ten, as it has a lot of good staple recipes but to me, but is far from becoming a regular on my cookbookshelf.  It reads more like someone's second draft but with some (considerable) editing, has the potential to be an excellent introduction to bento cooking.

Written by a Westerner for the Western market, this book aims to be an introduction to making healthy, appetizing  lunches to go.  The recipes chosen are those that appeal to North American tastes and are usually what one thinks about when one thinks bento.  The recipes are simple to make and seldom require unusual ingredients.  Because it included all the bento staples, from onigiri to tonkatsu, it get's an extra star.



There is a culture here in North America that worries about food spoiling.  I mean, we keep eggs in the FRIDGE!  This is a side effect of the industrial food system that, despite everyone's best efforts (I'm sure), deadly pathogens creep into our food.

This fear of food spoiling is so deeply ingrained that... well the conversation I had yesterday with a random stranger about cheese.  Apparently even leaving brie out on the counter for 20 min. to soften before serving constitutes a call to the health authority and a trip to the hospital.  (this is not an actual need, brie is quite safe and tastes best if allowed to soften or ripen for up to several hours, weather dependent, prior to serving.)  But the fear we have here is hammered so strongly into our culture that people cannot seem to think clearly about food safety.

Before refrigeration was common, there were many methods to keep food from spoiling.  Although pre-industrial revolution statistics are hard to come by, I feel very strongly that the per-capita incidence of food poisoning was a great deal lower than it is today.  People knew that cooking meats with salt and vinegar reduced spoilage.  There are all sorts of methods that one can employ to keep food fresh at room temperature for at least long enough to call it lunch.

Problem these days, is that most people in the West don't know about them.

Hello, Bento!  is all about cooking up some food, plopping it in a box, and eating it for lunch.  And yet, many of the recipes have reduced salt content compared to the traditional foods these are based on.  There is no discussion on how to keep your bento lunch safe.  (see JustBento.com for a nice overview on how to do this).

For me, not including Health and Safety in a bento cook book is tantamount to a crime!


The recipes included are the basic bento staples.  Everything on how to wash rice, to tonkatsu are included.  Some of the ingredients are a little hard to come by, but can be ordered via Amazon.com if you live in the US and don't have a near by Japanese grocer.  Those of us in Canada are a little less lucky (unless you can tell me a good place to mail order Japanese ingredients within Canada, please!).

The instructions in most of the recipes are a bit hard to follow even if you are familiarly with Japanese cooking.  The sentence structure and general language usage is, well, as bad as mine.  But then again I'm seriously dyslexic and this is a blog.  This is little better than a second draft.  You don't actually have to pay me to read this (all four of you).  A published book usually requires higher standards (even an ebook).


Vegan friendly?: some is, some isn't.  It's up to the educated young vegan about town to decide which recipes are animal friendly.  There are very few indications within the book itself

Allergy Friendly?: sigh, I would have to say no.  The recipes in this book are not easily modified for people with allergies.  Many of the ingredients such as soy act to preserve the food, as well as add flavour.  Because of the safety issues surrounding bento lunches and the lack of information included in this book, it makes it difficult to adjust for allergies.


On the whole, I feel this book needs to be reworked.  It has some great ideas in it, but the work is rather shoddy and basically yells self-published rush job.  But, if it could be expanded and edited properly, it has the makings of a fantastic cook book.


Hello, Bento! - A Collection of Simple Japanese Bento Recipes
by Cooking Penguin
ebook format only at the moment
6 out of 10

Review: Bento & Co.

I practically ran to the post office as soon as I heard.  My parcel from Bento & Co. had arrived!

Actually I drove (at the speed limit even).  The post office is rather a long distance from my house and most athletes take almost three hours to run that far over that many hills.  Driving is much faster.

This is one of two parcels I've ordered from them.  What happened is that a few days after they shipped this, they decided to have a sale (the blighters) and then I ended up ordering a bunch more.  The sale is on for another day or two.  There are some good deals there well worth having a look.

So, here is what I got and some first impressions:

Cooking chopsticks: very nice and well priced set of four chopsticks.  These are about two inches longer than I am use to for cooking chopsticks.  I thought at first this would be a problem, but once I tried them out, they actually feel quite nice in my stubby little hands.

Travel Chopsticks:  Now these are exactly my size.  I like short thin chopsticks for eating with.  I bought this so that I could try and learn the hiragana spelling of the words Itedakemasu (let's eat) and gochisosama (finished eating).  Although my spelling might be a bit off, I'm still learning.

The chopsticks fit very nicely in my hand, but I have small hands with stubby fingers.  It wouldn't fit a man's or large woman's hands.

I especially like how the case keeps the chopsticks from getting dirty or from getting everything else dirty.  This is going to be a regular part of my bento from now on.

Onigiri holder: This is going to be FANTASTIC.

The black area is a small compartment with a leek proof or almost leek proof lid, then on top of that you place one onigiri (rice ball).  It's the perfect snack container.

The look is like lacquered wood and feels a bit like it, but is obviously plastic.  We will see how it holds up.

I'm very fond of the little tabs and how snugly the whole thing fits together.  I can see this being used almost daily.

Silicon cups: two reusable cups, one red and one black for separating things in bento boxes.  These are a bit flimsy compared to the ones you usually find around here for baking, but they are the perfect size for bento dividers and I like the reusable aspect of them.  

And my favourite item, the one thing that inspired me to order from this shop...

It's Just Leftovers Bento Box:  the writing translates as 'I'm afraid it's just leftovers' which is basically what I use in my bento boxes anyway.  Although a bit larger than I usually use, I fell in love with the box the moment I saw it.

It's a two level box with optional divider section.  The leak resistant lid fits on the upper level and the divider will fit in top or bottom.  The elastic keeps everything together nicely.

First impressions is that this is going to fit A LOT of food.  Possibly more food than I can eat in a day.  But on those long term outings, you really do need lots to eat otherwise one gets tempted to go shopping.

I don't normally go for a plastic food container.  This and the onigiri holder above, are the first.  But I figured, I don't reheat food in the microwave (I use the microwave about once a year, and that's usually to melt butter) and since the food is cooled relatively quickly before adding the lid, I don't think I'll get too much plastic in my food.  I figured the joy of the box out weighs the detriments of using plastic and having a container that inspires me to make better and healthier food is always a good idea.






I'm very happy ordering from Bento & Co.  and will be doing so again in the future.  The shipping took 2 and a half weeks (which is faster than coming from Ontario) on the second to cheapest shipping.  I wouldn't have paid for the tracking if I had known the tracking is only useful while the parcel is still in Japan.  I should have read the fine print on that one.

Even with the cost of shipping, the products worked out the same price or less than buying them in town or from a Canadian shop.  Many of the products aren't available locally, so they also have that going for them.

I admit, I probably would have bought more if the yen wasn't so high.  But I am happy with what I did get and can hardly wait until tomorrow's bento.