Bowl food is taking the world by storm

People started noticing the rise of bowl-eating in about 2016. The new fad was driven by a focus on more healthy dishes which often consisted of grains, pulses, vegetables, protein, dips and sauces layered and arranged in bowls. Bowl food has become a food category in its own right.

Celebrity chefs were quick on the uptake. Nigella Lawson is a self-confessed bowl addict. She wrote an entire chapter on bowl food in her book Simply Nigella. “For me, ‘bowlfood’ is simply shorthand for food that is simultaneously soothing, bolstering, undemanding and sustaining.”

Jamie Oliver has 15 delicious and healthy one bowl recipes which seem to fall into one of five categories – soups, salads, Asian noodle dishes, Asian rice dishes and cereal based dishes.

People tend to intuitively feel that food in bowls is good for us. Charles Spence, who studies the psychology of food at the University of Oxford, told the website Quartzy that one is likely to rate it as more intensely aromatic than exactly the same food on a plate.

Eating bowl food is a voyage of discovery through the bowl with its interesting variety of healthy ingredients and flavours that are easy to assemble.

It all started with smoothie bowls

According to The Telegraph it all started with smoothie bowls – colourful bowls of fruit that health-conscious food bloggers flooded Instagram with. Make your favourite smoothies as a base and then layer fruits, nuts, seeds and cereals on top.

Buddha Bowl

What is a Buddha Bowl and how did it get its name? There are many theories but the Buddha ate little and didn’t pay much attention to food. He did however eat from a bowl and, like Buddhist monks, ate what was placed in that bowl by villagers and followers.

The current ‘mindfulness’ and ‘zen’ trends have probably spilled over into food and nutrition. For ideal digestion and weight loss success we are advised to eat mindfully, to pay attention to what we eat, what it tastes likes, and to chew it well and listen to our body’s signal about when it’s had enough.

Originally these bowls were vegan (no animal products). They can contain cooked grains like brown rice and barley or pulses like beans, lentils and chickpeas as well as noodles and vegetables that have been grilled or steamed or that are raw sprinkled with seeds and a dressing.

There are other bowl foods. Many Asian foods are natural bowl foods such as Korean bibimbap, noodle bowls, rice bowls and noodle salads.

Read the original article on Alberton Record

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