Bean sprouts consumed more than the previous year even in once-in-a century economic crisis!

 Vol.1 ) October, 2009

Since the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers of the U.S.A in 2008, a world-wide crisis; a so-called once-in-a century crisis; has been hurting everyone, but some hopeful news has finally started to be reported in Japan.  
This economic crisis has made some new trends in the Japanese food market, the representative one being the bean sprouts boom.
We’d like to talk a little about the reasons why bean sprout consumption is increasing and what the new trends are. 

Japanese statistical data shows bean sprout consumption has increased during recessions.
Bean sprout consumption had outstandingly increased during the Oil-Shock (1973) and the collapse of overheated stock and the real estate market (1990).
This increase has appeared again through this ‘Lehman Shock’.

Bean sprout consumption started to increase from September of 2008.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications of Japan has reported that in 2009, the amount of bean sprout consumption per person per month has risen up to 185g (the average between January and June) from the previous year’s 158g, a 17% increase!

From older times, it has been commonly said in Japan that bean sprout consumption increases during recessions because they have a price merit as well as eggs whose moderate prices have risen little within the past 25 years.

How can bean sprouts be supplied at such a low price in Japan?

The answer is very simple. It is because they are produced in factories.
Growing is controlled by computer, and the whole process, from cleansing to packing, is fully automatized. Bean sprouts can be produced stably and safely regardless of weather conditions  and provided at an incredibly low price in Japan (around 18cents for 100g).      

By the way, there is an outstanding difference when this current bean sprout trend compared to the past booms, which is that mass media has started to highlight bean sprouts’ nutritional values and merits as a factory-based vegetable.
Targeting particularly young ladies who are always looking for something healthy and good for beauty and dieting, a series of bean sprouts cookbooks emphasizing bean sprouts’ safety from pesticide-free-growing, low calories and convenience in cooking, have been published.

We consider these as a new trend 

As for the cookbooks, 7 bean sprout specialty cookbooks have been published since ‘Great! Bean Sprouts Recipes!’ was published in April, 2008 (this many bean sprouts cookbooks have never appeared in such a short term).

These books feature various values of bean sprouts, especially emphasizing  
-Bean sprouts are good for health and have great nutritional values
-Produced in a factory, they are safe to eat with no chemical treatment
-They are very simple, convenient to use, and versatile

Among the books, ‘Fantastic! Bean Sprouts Recipe’ has recorded over 120 thousand copies in sales. TV cooking programs are also introducing Bean Sprouts, for example, the Japanese government-run broadcasting station, NHK’s cooking class, specially treated bean sprout cuisines in June, and a private station, Nihon TV also featured bean sprouts dishes in September.

Please click the image below for more information if you are interested.    

As a matter of fact, bean sprouts are being specially featured even in general amusement magazines and general cookbooks, and for young women, a bean sprouts diet book has been published.
We’d like to talk about these next month.