Around the World: Ratatouille

This post marks the beginning of a brand new lunch box adventure: VEGAN LUNCH BOX AROUND THE WORLD!

For the next few months I'll be featuring lunch box menus inspired by cuisines and cultures around the world and around the United States. It's the kind of cooking I enjoy the most, and I can't wait to get started! I'm kicking the journey off with one of my fall favorites...

It's that time of year again: the big end-of-summer eggplant/pepper/tomato harvest! And you know what that means: ratatouille!

That's right, it's more than a cute cartoon! It's a classic French country stew made with eggplants, peppers, tomatoes, and zucchini. I added cannellini beans to mine, although the traditional recipe doesn't call for them.

Alongside are a mini-loaf of wheat bread and a bar of Newman's Sweet Dark Chocolate (Newman's is our favorite dark chocolate -- smooth, not too bitter).

Verdict: Ratatouille only gets better the next day and the day after, making this a great dish for next-day lunches. This was the perfect lunch to enjoy while watching shmoo's team practice another fall classic, at least in America: tackle football. (That's right, despite my better judgment we are allowing our kid to smash violently into other kids for fun. You should see the bruises.) 4 stars.

Yogurt Envy

I'm so jealous! Blog reader Kadri from Estonia read my recent soy-free vegan yogurt review and pointed out that they make Oat Yogurt in Finland! How cool is that?

Kadri writes:

"My favourite non-dairy yoghurt has to be YoSa. It's oat-based and flavoured with real fruits and berries.

"It's absolutely wonderful - their organic bluberry-banana YoSa and plum YoSa are incredlibly good as well. I'm not sure whether one can get it in USA, but if you can, give it a go. I'm sure you'll love it, too."

I'm sure I would, if only I could!

Making Fiends in the Cafeteria

Sing along with Charlotte and the Veggies:

"Eat vegetables with every meal
Or your lips will start to peel
And your eyeballs will fall out
And your feet will smell like trout!"

Bicycle Frame Lunch Bag

Check out these instructions from Evil Mad Scientist Laboratories ("Making the World a Better Place, One Evil Mad Scientist at a Time") on how to make your very own bicycle frame lunch bag.

I wonder if you could adjust the pattern dimensions to fit a Laptop Lunch System?

Archived Interview

In case you missed it live, my recent interview with Dr. Melissa West is now in the archive. It was a fun interview!

Lunch Box Contest Honorable Mention

I couldn't resist giving out just one more Vegan Lunch Box award and free cookbook! This one goes to Christine in Arizona, who sent in this adorable "Summer Bunny" lunch!

"I grew up in Saskatchewan Canada, where every summer at afternoon I would be seated in my mother’s kitchen enjoying one of her delicious lunches. She used fresh vegetables from our garden, warm homemade breads and juicy fruit from the farmers market, which have also become some of my favorites as I continue to cook and grow. This Summer Bunny lunch was inspired by the cool Canadian summers in Saskatchewan that I miss terribly.

"Starting from the top left, I made carrots out of Granny Smith and Gala apples, held together with toothpicks. Next I made a salad with organic red leaf lettuce with chopped sugar snap peas, cucumber and radishes. I sprinkled Galaxy brand Veggie Shreds (parmesan, mozzarella and romano flavored) for that yummy cheese texture. For the dressing, I used Annie’s Organic Pomegranate Vinaigrette, which was delicious!

"On the bottom left I made a bunny-shaped sandwich (Athenos humus spread, sliced tomato and cucumber between whole wheat bread), a filled a mini watering can with sliced carrots (every bunny’s favorite food!), all over a bed of alfalfa sprouts. For dessert, I made two mini servings of organic rhubarb crisp, a HUGE childhood favorite of mine, sprinkled with granola and ground cinnamon. I also added some of Annie’s vegan chocolate chip bunny grahams for a little variety! And for the drink... Soy on the GO Cappuccino (also comes in chocolate and vanilla)."

Is that incredibly adorable or what? Thank you so much, Christine, for sharing your work of edible art with us!

Lunch Box Contest Winner #5

Here is the phenomenal Amy, Winner Number Five in the Vegan Lunch Box Contest. Amy is fifth in honor of the FIVE lunch boxes she packs for FIVE of her children. How she manages to pack five lunches at all is a mystery to me, not to mention the fact that all the lunches look delicious, healthy, and fantastic!

Amy writes:

I love your blog and when I saw your contest I thought it would be fun. I have 6 children (the youngest is breastfed and doesn't need a lunchbox yet) so I'm sending in a picture of lunches I made for 5 of my children...


The bottom left has Southwestern Eggrolls on a bed of brown rice with diced tomato on the side. The inside of the roll is tempeh, spinach, corn, black beans, onion, red pepper, jalepeno which is left out for the kids, tomato, chili powder, and cumin. My recipe is a copycat of Chili's Southwestern Eggroll recipe except I substituted steamed tempeh for the chicken and just omitted the cheese. They are baked instead of deep fried like the original. The dipping sauce is vegan avocado ranch for the eggrolls. I used toffutti sour cream, veganaise, and soymilk in place of the dairy in the recipe. The top left has carrots and cherry tomatoes from our garden to use with the rest of the dipping sauce. The top right is mango and blueberries. The bottom right is an attempt at a vegan churro. I used a vegan donut recipe and it came out a lot flatter than I anticipated and looks more like a cookie.

The rolls and dip look delicious, and I love that they included my favorite soy food, tempeh. I'm so glad you took the extra time to photograph and share your family's lunch with us. Congratulations and thank you, Amy!

Ann Cooper: Kickin' Butt and Takin' Names

Speaking of the school lunch program, blog follower A. Brown sent in this great clip of Ann Cooper, director of Nutrition Services for the Berkeley Unified School District and author of Lunch Lessons,at a 2007 conference:



Woo hoo! I love the passion and intensity she brings to this issue.

Lunch Box Contest Winner #4

The fourth winner of the Vegan Lunch Box Contest is Candice, who sent in her entry all the way from her current home in Laos. Candice handily beat out all competition in the categories "Most Unusual Fruit" and "Funniest Lunch Box Logo".

Candice writes:

"In this lunch box that I bought in China (attached pictures for the humor -- there is 'Chinglish' on the lid) I have packed fresh spring rolls stuffed with bean sprouts, home made peanut butter, Thai basil, lettuce, and glass noodles (I cut one open in the middle so you could see inside. For the record, fresh springrolls do not photograph well!)

"In the red bowl is spring roll dipping sauce made from palm sugar, vinegar, water and chilies. The red bowl has a lid (Tupperware). In the blue bowl is ground peanuts that are sometimes dumped into the dipping sauce, but you can always just mash the spring roll down in there and get some peanuts on the end of it. The green stuff is bell peppers. The eyes on the spring rolls are hijiki seaweed.

"On the other tray are dragon fruit (about 1/3 of an entire dragon fruit), two rambutans, and home made roll-out vegan oatmeal cookies.

Best of all Candice was kind enough to send me her healthy
recipe for Roll-Out Vegan Oatmeal Cookies and I have posted it for all to enjoy.

Thank you so much, Candice! I hope I have a chance to try rambutan and dragon fruit someday. They look like crazy Dr. Suess fruit to me -- I love it!

Live Call-In Interview this Wednesday

For those of you interested in hearing me yammer on about lunchtime (as I do so love to do), there is an upcoming opportunity to do so: I'm going to be interviewed this week by Dr. Melissa West on her internet radio show Returning to the Body Mind.

Dr. West is a "holistic lifestyle coach, psychospiritual energy worker and yoga and pilates instructor", and her show focuses on the connections between physical, spiritual, and personal well-being. She's interviewed some very interesting people, including vegan professional triathlete Brendan Brazier (scroll down to the 9/3/08 episode to listen to the archived show).

The show will be going out live online at Contact Talk Radio this Wednesday, September 24th, from 8am to 9am PST. Listen in live at the website, or download the recorded show later on itunes.

We'll be talking for a whole hour (can I really yammer on that long?) and will even take calls from listeners. So call and ask me your questions (be nice!) at 1-877-230-3062 while the show is going on.