Benefits of Slow Food

School Lunches Used to Promote Healthy Eating Bored with fast food and concerned about the disappearance of regionally distinctive dishes, people in Japan are waking up to the virtues of "slow food." Many are spearheading a slow-food movement with the objective of encouraging people - including children - to rethink modern eating habits. One innovative approach to deepening students' knowledge of food has been through the school lunch program. Schools, food producers, local residents, and volunteers are working together to instill in youngsters an appreciation of food culture and a desire to enrich their eating habits. Using Local Produce Yashiro Elementary School in the town of Takahata, Yamagata Prefecture, is a pioneer in applying the slow-food concept to school lunches. The school began using locally grown produce in its lunches about 10 years ago and now operates a system in which a group of volunteers delivers fresh vegetables every day. Typical Takahata-made menu items include rice, milk, carrots, and onions, some of which are cooked as soup or used to make tartar sauce. Encouraged by the success of this scheme, the town authorities extended the use of local ingredients to six other elementary schools in June 2002. Teachers have been impressed by the reaction of children. One said, "They now leave much less food on their plates and seem to appreciate the food more. Through direct contact with the growers, they have also become more interested in farming." Kodomo no Mori ("children's forest"), a nonprofit organization in the city of Iwata, Shizuoka Prefecture, meanwhile, is holding cooking classes for children - one for kids aged three to five and another for elementary school pupils. A member of the group said: "We hope that by having children cook rice, miso soup, and main dishes by themselves, they'll become more interested in food." This echoes the philosophy of the Japan Slow Food Association (site is Japanese only), which has appealed to people to think more seriously about the food they eat, saying, "Food is the single most important foundation of human life. We should at least have a good idea of where things comes from before we put them in our mouths." Enriching Children's Eating Habits Most public elementary and junior high schools in Japan provide lunch for students. The meals are prepared in kitchens within the school or at school-lunch centers serving several schools. Children generally eat the lunches in their classrooms with their homeroom teachers.
This system began in the early twentieth century, when a private elementary school in Tsuruoka, Yamagata Prefecture, started providing simple meals to children whose families were too poor to give them box lunches. With the support of the central government, this practice spread to the rest of the country, especially the large cities. Among the objectives were to feed undernourished children and to provide an extra incentive for parents to send their children to school. School lunches were interrupted as fighting intensified during World War II but were relaunched in 1947, when elementary schools in large cities began to serve meals made with food aid - such as powdered skimmed milk and flour - from the United States and other countries. From 1952 school lunches were served in all elementary schools. In 1968 the Ministry of Education revised the basic guidelines for education and placed school lunch within the "class instruction" area of study. Since then, schools have been obliged to encourage students to adopt healthy eating habits. Meals had been served with bread since the end of World War II, but in 1976 the ministry also introduced rice-based meals, and this has added variety to the lunches served in schools. As part of its official development assistance in the field of primary education, meanwhile, the Japanese government has decided to share the benefits of its education system with developing countries, such as by helping to set up school-lunch systems and offering expertise in early-childhood education. Thus in addition to educating Japanese children about the benefits of a healthy diet, Japan's school-lunch program could play a role in improving the health of children around the world. (Web-Japan, January 20, 2003)

Plastic Food Model

Model dora-yaki buns showing anko sweet bean paste inside, to emphasize the good taste. You cannot see the filling inside a real bun.

---

The model plays up every tasty ingredient in the hamburger.

Food models can even show moments like this one. The scene frozen here is green tea being poured onto rice.

At the entrance to this restaurant, models are placed on a stand with the menu.

Many visitors to Japan buy model food key holders as souvenirs.

Model nigiri-zushi topped with tuna, egg, squid, shrimp and other delicacies, all displayed in this sushi-dokei (sushi clock).

All Model Of Food

Japanese restaurants have lots of food models like the ones on these pages, and they all look like real food. Some are unique pop art, including the big store sign and souvenir key holders on the page.

Model of tempura.

Models of nigiri-zushi (hand-shaped sushi), fresh fish and beer. It is hard to make fresh fish and other uncooked food look real. Manufacturers are proud to show off their skills.

The showcase in front of this pub displays many model dishes to whet the appetite of potential customers. (Photo credit: Ginza Lion, Shibuya Mark City)

Plastic Food to Savor with the Eyes 2

Above: The plastic models are removed from the molds, and then painted with an airbrush or ordinary paintbrush. These ones are textured to imitate real slices of bacon.
Right: The models at the front are cooked spaghetti. To the rear, imitation carrots are being cut to serve as a garnishing for another dish. Using a kitchen knife to cut slices from the plastic model gives an authentic touch.

Here are the basic steps for making an imitation omelet stuffed with ketchup-seasoned fried rice.

1.	The client gives the factory a real stuffed omelet. The food goes into a casting box. Then silicon is poured on top, to make the mold.
2.	After the silicon has hardened, the omelet is removed and thrown away.
3.	A liquid plastic is poured into the silicon mold.
4.	The mold and plastic are heated in an oven.
5.	The model is taken out of the mold and colored. A plastic "sauce" is poured on part of the top, and the model is heated again in the oven. Then it is ready for the client.

Not all of the "ingredients" are left whole after they come out of the mold. For example, "tomatoes" may be cut into slices with a knife to garnish a meal, and "lemons" are cut into wedges to highlight a drink. Different factors, including the size of the ingredients and the effect made by cutting, create a wide variety of items, and certain combinations are made to suit the client.

The company's manual details the manufacturing process and helps workers master the techniques quickly. But of course the manual is not everything.

Shimizu Yoichi of the company's manufacturing department says, "A creative worker will do more than just follow instructions. We expect everyone to keep asking themselves, 'How can I make it look just as real and tasty as the real thing?' We work creatively and keep refining the manufacturing process."

Plastic food is generally made only after an order is placed, and the manufacturer is ready to satisfy a wide range of requests. The plastic food is not always made for restaurant show windows—for example, the company has made imitation ice cream for a TV commercial. Real ice cream would turn to mush during the filming, but plastic ice cream keeps looking inviting. As you can see, plastic food has real value.

Restaurants in Japan have their repertoire of plastic food in a display case. For customers, it is a visual menu. They can savor the food with their eyes before sitting down for the meal. This custom is almost unique to Japan, but over the last decade or so it has caught on in Japan's next-door neighbor, the Republic of Korea, and it is now spreading to China as well. Plastic imitation meals are one part of Japan's food culture, and they are starting to whet appetites in other countries, too.

Left: Iwasaki Co., Ltd., has 24 selections of paint for coloring the food models. Each color was designed to match the color of certain standard food items, such as tomato sauce or ramen
Right: Colored gelatin is poured into glasses to make imitation drinks. In the case of beer, clients specify in writing exactly how much head they want on top.
Iwasaki website (in Japanese and Chinese)
noodle soup.

Plastic Food to Savor with the Eyes

Have you ever seen plastic food? You can see it in restaurant show windows throughout Japan, and it looks just like the real thing. These pages show how plastic food is made and used in Japan.

Photos by Sugawara Chiyoshi, Collaboration: Iwasaki Co., Ltd.
japanese

Above: The day before the imitation food is made, the factory obtains the real food prepared by the client. Each piece of food suitable for making a mold is placed in one of the molding boxes.
Below: Silicon is poured over the food in the molding boxes. When the silicon hardens, the molds are ready.
Right: Liquid plastic is poured into the silicon molds to make an imitation omelet stuffed with ketchup-seasoned fried rice. The casting is then heated in an oven to harden it.
japanese

Models of food were first made in Japan in 1917. Six years later, a restaurant in a famous Tokyo department store displayed some imitation food in a glass case, and then enjoyed a big jump in revenue. In those days, the imitation food was made the same way as wax plants and anatomical models. In 1932, Iwasaki Ryuzo set up a business to make and sell food models. The company, Iwasaki Co., Ltd., did very well, and is now the top manufacturer of plastic food. The staff there was happy to show us how this "food" is made.
Standing in the vast manufacturing area, you might think you are in a huge restaurant kitchen, not a plastic food factory. Almost 50 people are either working on ingredients for Japanese, Western or Chinese restaurants, or making different types of beverages. Rice is placed on a dish, then topped with a thick curry sauce and placed in an oven. Workers cut sushi rolls with a knife.
At least, that is how it looks at first. But there are no nice smells coming from the ovens. How is the "food" being made?

A company representative, Kurokawa Yuta explains, "In the old days, imitation food was made from wax. The wax was melted, then poured into molds made from kanten, which is a kind of seaweed jelly. Today, the molds are made of silicon. We take the molds and pour liquid plastic into them, then heat the plastic until it hardens. The new materials and techniques make the models more convincing than before."

(Web-Japan)