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EEP BOWLS, SHALLOW BOWLS, BOWLS the size of large tea cups, traditional blue and white Chinese bowls filled with steaming portions of ramen noodles, whole grains or rice…. bowls topped with sweet, savoury and spicy sauces, crunchy spring rolls, fanned slices of bright green avocado, crispy pieces of fish, soft fried eggs, spiced and sliced chicken, tender pulled pork, colourful fruit and kale smoothies, and more, so much more. One-bowl meals are hip, healthy and incredibly popular, thanks to Goop’s Gwyneth Paltrow, cookbook author Nigella Lawson, food bloggers and legions of Pinterest and Instagram users. In her New Year’s Day blog, Lawson even goes so far as to say, “if I could, I’d eat everything out of a bowl.” Why did plates become passé? Part of the answer lies in the simplicity of bowl food, says Kate McKay, chef at Lakehouse Home Store in Kelowna. “The trend is taking off because bowl food is simple, aesthetically pleasing and typically healthy,” she says. “There are also no set rules with this type of presentation. Home cooks and chefs alike can be as creative as they wish.” Couple that with the fact that fewer and fewer people are eating at the table these days, and you begin to understand the appeal of a meal in a bowl. After all, it’s far easier to balance a bowl on your lap while binge-watching Netflix than a plate. A healthy staple in Asian, Indo, Moroccan and Latin American cuisines, bowl food layers carbohydrates with a protein and vegetables, then adds flavourful condiments and sauces. Many restaurants are riffing on traditional pho, ramen, acai, bibimbap, poke and rice bowl recipes, making these dishes their own. Bowls entangle their ingredients in a way that’s just not possible with a plated meal, delivering surprisingly complex and delightfully new taste sensations and intriguing textures. Before it returned to Toronto in 2015, Victoria restaurant Lady Marmalade served one of my all-time favourite meals in a bowl, the Baja Rice Bowl. My mouth used to water for this magical blend of brown rice, black beans, white cheddar, pico de gallo salsa, avocado, sour cream, scallions and cilantro. Some experts also believe that this combination of flavours and textures may make us more mindful of what we eat, as we carefully discern, appreciate and consume the different ingredients nestled in the bowl before us. Charles Spence and Vanessa Farrar, authors of a 2013 study conducted at Oxford University, even suggest that the weight of a bowl we cup in our hands could lead to greater feelings of satisfaction with a meal. As trendy as it has become, the idea of eating a full meal from a bowl isn’t entirely new. Ten years ago, a restaurant I really liked traded all of its plates for large, rustic pottery bowls. While the bowls were great for risottos and pasta, they were
“THE TREND IS TAKING OFF BECAUSE BOWL FOOD IS SIMPLE, AESTHETICALLY PLEASING AND TYPICALLY HEALTHY.”
Super Food 500 at JOEY Kelowna’s.
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