Learning to count fatty acids with this 1 2 3 bento ;)

Bento #123, Wednesday 17-11-2010

Left tier

  • baked chestnut mushrooms with leek, green chilli, sweet soy sauce and roasted garlic
  • mini Milka chocolate
  • mandarin
  • cucumber slices
  • tamagoyaki with nori
  • fresh mint leaves

Right tier

  • Jerusalem artichoke in shallot vinaigrette with caper berries on a bed of aragula and topped with roasted walnuts
  • peanut sauce dip for cucumber
  • a tiny bit of emping crumbs
  • mini plum tomato with basil ‘pears’

On the side

  • the rest of the clementine and walnuts

As a vegetarian I need to make sure my daily nutrition contains enough omega-3 because the human body can’t produce these fatty acids by itself and they’re essential for our health. Uhm.. this is true for omnivarians as well: the majority of people doesn’t get enough omega-3 as it is.

Anyway, that’s why my bentos  frequently contain walnuts. 35 grams of these (= 3 tablespoons; 5-6 walnuts) should be enough. Other plant-based providers are mainly flaxseed (10-15 gram = 1 heaped tablespoon) and flaxseed oil. In lesser amounts it can be found in soy (oil), sweet chestnuts, pumpkin seeds, Brazil nuts, canola oil, wheat germs and leafy greens (especially Miner’s lettuce (winterpostelein)).

Today’s bento contains 4 walnut halves = 12 gram = 1/3 of what I need. But I also ate half a tablespoon of ground flaxseed in my yoghurt this morning. Together with the rocket lettuce in my lunch, peanut sauce, use of canola oil, light & sweet soy sauces (in the Japanese egg and baked mushrooms), and more of those marinated earth apples & walnuts with additional corn salad for dinner tonight, I bet I’m getting enough ω3 today!

Bento Lunch

Find more Wednesday bento lunches at Shannon’s What’s for Lunch Wednesday (week 25)!