Guys Upstairs - Asia

Widely regarded as one of the mainstays of asian cuisine, rice is eaten by almost everyone. However, the consumption of rice in Japan has dropped more than 50% in the last 40 years. Japan is not the only nation, as China and India are also seeing declines. The Japanese government is rolling out a plan to spur the nation into increasing the amount of rice they eat. The reasoning is two-fold: increase the ntaion’s self sufficiency and curb the obesity associated with the change in diet over the past few decades.

A 200 million yen (roughly $2 million) campaign was launched earlier this year to increase the consumption of rice. The push included TV ads promoting rice as a breakfast item as well as changes with bakeries and cooking classes which substituted rice as the main source of starch, such as using rice flour for breads. The recommended yearly rice consumption has been increased from 61 to 63kg per person and Japanese officials are hoping this will increase the nation’s self sufficiency from 40% to 50%.

Over the past three decades, Japanese men have seen a 10% increase in weight and women have increased by 6.4%. This increase has been attributed to a decrease in rice based food and increase in “Western” foods such as pasta and cereals. No doubt Western fast food chains setting up in Asia have added to this change in diet and increase in weight. Another reason is that diets have imporved and people are wealthy enough to afford meats and vegetables.

[Telegraph]