Guilt-free Japanese pre-cooked: Healthy and sustainable food

I won’t deny it. Convenience in Japan comes at the cost of waste. It sometimes hurt to say this of a country I love, but the efforts to prevent waste is still left desirable. You’ve seen it before too, right? Buying a candy that has three layers of packaging just stacks guilt against the sweet pleasures the candy brings.

Now there is a rising trend in Japan for “fast” food. It’s not McDonald’s or MOS Burger we’re talking about, but the pre-cooked food that only requires preparation by heating through microwaves or a frying pan.

In fact, when surveyed, 53.6% of the 683 Japanese women prepare meals using the microwave. And that excludes the number of people using microwaves as part of meal preparation to save time.

At first, it sounds like consumption of pre-cooked food could lead to more waste. However, unlike “fast fashion”, there are opportunities to tap from the changing consumption trends. I believe there are three of them.

Changing mindsets about pre-cooked food

Statistically speaking, demand for “fast” food has been rising, with an annual growth of 3-4%. Unfortunately, “fast” food doesn’t have a very good image of being healthy. Doubts include the inclusion of preservatives and lack of balance as a nutritious meal. (Perhaps we should say that demand growth is ONLY 3-4%.)

Without a doubt, the demand of convenience will continue to grow in pre-cooked food. Therefore it is important for brands to start riding it for business growth, and to ride it ethically by making pre-cooked food truly healthy.

In fact, some companies are already meeting consumers’ health concerns. Souzainosu (under Kikkoman Pte Ltd)’s popular brown rice bran contains vegetable proteins from soy beans. Nagatanien’s Asage series contain freeze-dried powder with raw miso, known for its health benefits. Such are examples of brands appealing to the consumers while attempting to squash pre-cooked food’s negative image.

Adopting the Sustainable Development Goals as a strategy

Furthermore, Japanese brands can leverage the use of SDGs to find ethical and sustainable ingredients for their products. Not only would this give them an edge in finding unique propositions over their competitors.

As mentioned earlier, we mentioned the use of vegetable proteins in pre-cooked food. Vegetable proteins are known are alternatives for meat protein. They also contain no fat! This is an example of using healthy and environmentally-impactful ingredients. If brands can make a commitment to the SDGs and use such ingredients in their products, they can become profitable, sustainable businesses that modern consumers are attracted to.

Leveraging on our old friend, Technology

Technology will continue to advance too, so we should continue to innovate and experiment. For example, we are beginning to see the halt of aluminium usage for packaging curry rue in Japan. The new alternative is a type of heat-resistant film that can be used either by heating in a pot or through a microwave. Furthermore, the film is easy to dispose through the proper recycling policies already placed in major Japan cities.

Therefore, it is not out of this world (or Japan in our case) to imagine replacing all packaging with biodegradable, environment-friendly ones. Japan’s infrastructure and citizen mindsets are ready for this technological revolution.

Pre-cooked food can be fast, healthy, ethical and wasteless

Convenience will always be a growing need. Many sustainable brands already know that delivering that convenience is a way to get buy in from customers to the idea of sustainability.

If pre-cooked food is going to be part of that convenience, then what we have here is an opportunity. Moreover, this opportunity is one that could impact our environment in either way. So let’s make it a positive one by ensuring creating awareness, aligning with SDGs and leveraging on relevant technology.