"Junky" Kids' Menus as the End of "Healthy" Japanese Cuisine
Across the rich world, Japanese food is well-regarded. The trend of wealth youths in the West eating sushi and sashimi come from the image of Japanese cuisine as healthy, characterized by the use of fresh fish and vegetables, and a relative lack of oil and heavy seasoning. In hip American urban neighborhoods, especially, people are willing to shell out quite a bit of money to get the authentic Japanese dining experience. The quality of Japanese food as a near-universal truth is confirmed the likes of the Michelin Guide, which has no failed to name Tokyo as the city with the most stars for many consecutive years.
There is no denying that the image of Japanese food as healthy has some truths on the ground. Whereas cheap food in America is almost entirely associated with burgers, hot dogs, pizza, and fries, equally priced fast food chains in Japan serve relatively healthy fares. While not healthy in absolute terms, Japanese chains like Matsuya and Yoshinoya provide balanced meals, with meat, salad, miso soup, and pickled vegetables, all in all much better than what McDonald's can come up with for the same low price. For people short on money, Japanese cuisine can be a much healthier choice.
But the difference between American and Japanese restaurant offerings narrow considerably when specifically looking at the kids' menus. Inevitably a gimmick by restaurants to get parents to indulge their kids on family outings, kids' menus in both countries are built with the philosophy of serving only what the kids want to eat, with only superficial considerations for health to satisfy the paying parents. The resulting is that both countries' kids menus are full of fried meat, fries, spaghetti, pizzas, and only tiny portions of vegetables and fruits. Japanese cuisine for kids, unlike those for adults, just as junky as those from McDonald's.
It begs the question of why such a convergence happened in the first place. After all, what is considered tasty, even for kids, should be quite subjective. Japanese and American kids that usually eat their moms' cooking and school lunches tend to grow up eating extremely different things. And this is especially so considering Japanese stay-at-home moms can expend serious energy in devising the healthiest, tastiest meals possible, while Japanese public school lunches are scientifically designed and cooked. American moms work more, leaving them with less time to cook. And American public school cafeterias only serve what can only be called microwaved garbage.
Given the differing dining experiences growing up, kids in Japan and America should have different understandings of what is delicious. The average Japanese kid, used to more healthy fare on a daily basis, should be satisfied with more healthy fare even for kids' menus at restaurants. Yet, this is simply not the case. Instead, deep-fried meat and potatoes have proven themselves to be the favorites of Japanese children, even though they are not something that their moms and schools would serve on a regular basis. Perhaps the jokes about fried foods being universally delicious are really true?
Instead of going into the biology behind humans being stimulated by fried foods, it would be interesting to consider an alternative explanation for the Japanese case. As a nation of foodies, the Japanese are fond of seeking out new foods. Japanese kids are trained to be attracted to exotic cuisines from a young age as their mothers attempt to cook new dishes from different parts of the world while checking out hundreds of beautiful cookbooks with delicious-looking pictures. It would not be surprising if these kids are attracted by what is most exotic to them.
Hence, it makes sense for restaurants to offer as kids' menus what the kids' mothers cannot cook at home and schools are unwilling to offer. The bet is that the food that is most exotic for the kids are likely to be more delicious. Deep-fried foods, with the need for a copious amount of cooking oil, is certainly not something mothers can cook at home. Schools certainly won't serve them for lunch for health reasons. The lack of availability of deep-fried foods in their daily lives means that kids are going to be very excited by the opportunity to eat them. And if kids are excited, they beg their parents to buy.
The deep-fried foods for kids might be a gimmick, but there are implications of such smart marketing for adults as well. Japanese adults, like kids, are fond of foods that they cannot normally eat. So restaurants that serve the polar opposite of regular Japanese fare may become the most trafficked. And if regular Japanese fare is healthy, then the most unhealthy may become the most popular dining options. Such a mentality underpins the recent success of "authentic" Indian and Chinese cuisines, serving extremely spicy, extremely salty foods that go against everything that makes Japanese food healthy.
Indeed, even Japanese cuisine itself is evolving to go along with the people's desire for something different to eat. Heavy meat consumption in the form of steaks, skewers, BBQ, and other forms of grilling has become quite popular. What made Japanese cuisine the byword for healthy eating is low sodium intake, animal protein consumption in moderation, and preference of fish over animals. As restaurants cater to the increasing desire for exotic eating among Japanese consumers, the essence of what makes Japanese foods healthy may be lost over time. This would be an extremely unfortunate development.
There is no denying that the image of Japanese food as healthy has some truths on the ground. Whereas cheap food in America is almost entirely associated with burgers, hot dogs, pizza, and fries, equally priced fast food chains in Japan serve relatively healthy fares. While not healthy in absolute terms, Japanese chains like Matsuya and Yoshinoya provide balanced meals, with meat, salad, miso soup, and pickled vegetables, all in all much better than what McDonald's can come up with for the same low price. For people short on money, Japanese cuisine can be a much healthier choice.
But the difference between American and Japanese restaurant offerings narrow considerably when specifically looking at the kids' menus. Inevitably a gimmick by restaurants to get parents to indulge their kids on family outings, kids' menus in both countries are built with the philosophy of serving only what the kids want to eat, with only superficial considerations for health to satisfy the paying parents. The resulting is that both countries' kids menus are full of fried meat, fries, spaghetti, pizzas, and only tiny portions of vegetables and fruits. Japanese cuisine for kids, unlike those for adults, just as junky as those from McDonald's.
It begs the question of why such a convergence happened in the first place. After all, what is considered tasty, even for kids, should be quite subjective. Japanese and American kids that usually eat their moms' cooking and school lunches tend to grow up eating extremely different things. And this is especially so considering Japanese stay-at-home moms can expend serious energy in devising the healthiest, tastiest meals possible, while Japanese public school lunches are scientifically designed and cooked. American moms work more, leaving them with less time to cook. And American public school cafeterias only serve what can only be called microwaved garbage.
Given the differing dining experiences growing up, kids in Japan and America should have different understandings of what is delicious. The average Japanese kid, used to more healthy fare on a daily basis, should be satisfied with more healthy fare even for kids' menus at restaurants. Yet, this is simply not the case. Instead, deep-fried meat and potatoes have proven themselves to be the favorites of Japanese children, even though they are not something that their moms and schools would serve on a regular basis. Perhaps the jokes about fried foods being universally delicious are really true?
Instead of going into the biology behind humans being stimulated by fried foods, it would be interesting to consider an alternative explanation for the Japanese case. As a nation of foodies, the Japanese are fond of seeking out new foods. Japanese kids are trained to be attracted to exotic cuisines from a young age as their mothers attempt to cook new dishes from different parts of the world while checking out hundreds of beautiful cookbooks with delicious-looking pictures. It would not be surprising if these kids are attracted by what is most exotic to them.
Hence, it makes sense for restaurants to offer as kids' menus what the kids' mothers cannot cook at home and schools are unwilling to offer. The bet is that the food that is most exotic for the kids are likely to be more delicious. Deep-fried foods, with the need for a copious amount of cooking oil, is certainly not something mothers can cook at home. Schools certainly won't serve them for lunch for health reasons. The lack of availability of deep-fried foods in their daily lives means that kids are going to be very excited by the opportunity to eat them. And if kids are excited, they beg their parents to buy.
The deep-fried foods for kids might be a gimmick, but there are implications of such smart marketing for adults as well. Japanese adults, like kids, are fond of foods that they cannot normally eat. So restaurants that serve the polar opposite of regular Japanese fare may become the most trafficked. And if regular Japanese fare is healthy, then the most unhealthy may become the most popular dining options. Such a mentality underpins the recent success of "authentic" Indian and Chinese cuisines, serving extremely spicy, extremely salty foods that go against everything that makes Japanese food healthy.
Indeed, even Japanese cuisine itself is evolving to go along with the people's desire for something different to eat. Heavy meat consumption in the form of steaks, skewers, BBQ, and other forms of grilling has become quite popular. What made Japanese cuisine the byword for healthy eating is low sodium intake, animal protein consumption in moderation, and preference of fish over animals. As restaurants cater to the increasing desire for exotic eating among Japanese consumers, the essence of what makes Japanese foods healthy may be lost over time. This would be an extremely unfortunate development.
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