HELLO autumn
Moving from the season of beaches and bbqs to apple picking and wooly sweaters brings a change of appetite.
Get curious and use your senses to notice what autumn smells, looks and tastes like as you create your lunches. How do you note your hunger changing? What foods are you desiring now?
Noticing the differences in the world around you will help fully experience this lovely season. Autumn can be a great time to integrate more awareness of day-to-day changes in colors and patterns in nature – this mindfulness can translate into deeper experience of and appreciation for your meals.
Ask yourself, or your kids, to notice how the leaves are changing on the trees each time you walk past. Are they more yellow or red today? Are there more on the ground?
Can you notice any acorns or other nuts? Are there more or less than yesterday. Can you notice the squirrels getting plumper? 🙂
Enjoy the changes of the season and use tips below to help autumnize your bentos!
color it
Include more food with rich, warm colors that evoke autumn – orange, yellow, deep green, burgundy, brown. By simply arranging more of these colors together your bento palette will look autumnal.
chunk it
Just like we gravitate towards the chunkier sweaters and blankets as the temperature drops, try larger chunks of fruit, cheese, veggies, etc. They can be visually more satisfying because they appear heartier.
Decorate it
A well placed cutout in the shape of a leaf, little Halloween decorations, (our boys love finding a toy spider …), autumn napkins, a few pieces of candy corn… adding a simple flourish can go a long way.
harvest flavor it
Choosing ingredients that are in season is a straight forward way to enjoy and experience autumn. Go to the farmers market and indulge in the apples, squash, brussel sprouts, potatoes, greens and bounty of the harvest season while its at its peak.
shape it
Leaves, acorns, pumkins, owls, woodland animals, cornucopias, scarecrows… think about shapes you can create using cookie cutters and/or layering food cut outs.
toast it
Toasting bread not only gives more depth of flavor but also the browner color will be perceived as warmer.
spice it
Add a pinch of warming spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, tumeric, pumpkin spice (!) etc to baked goods or on top of nut butter or with honey in yogurt. Add herbs with deeper flavor to veggies or dips. A little whiff of these can transform a food.
top it
Sprinkle on a taste of autumn! Nuts, cacao bits, spices, dried fruits like cranberries, chopped seasonal fruits and veg can all add depth and visual interest to your meal. Try roasting veg, meat and nuts for deeper flavor that you then chop.
put it in aN autumn colored bento!
We think we are the only “light pumpkin spice ” colored bento on the market. 😉
This color has a special deal while quantities last on Amazon. Go here to check them out!
