How is nutrition taught in Japan – from a school perspective, what’s expected at home, etc?

6 comments

1. >_After visiting many years ago, I saw that a lot of fast food options or convenience store food isn’t terrible but it’s arguably as healthy as North American options…_

   Yeah but it’s literally half the portion size of the American equivalent – which is why you see less Japanese people walking around shouting 「ヘイ　ヘイ　へ～イ！！」

2. Every Japanese person is convinced peanut butter is “fat food.” They did a very good job of that! Of course it is, but still.

3. This is basically the nutrition poster I saw stuck up in the schools I taught at-

   https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Japanese-Food-Guide-Spinning-Top-Source-MAFF_fig16_346100724

4. Remember that french fries are not considered as vegetable here.

5. North Americans use cars where Japanese use their feet.

6. I worked at some schools a few years ago and looked into some textbooks here and there.

   Foods are divided into three categories: red (proteins), yellow (fats and carbs) and green (fruits and veggies). On the lunch menu for the month, each meal is split into where each ingredient falls.

   For example, the main of karaage has chicken (red), and potato starch and oil (yellow). The side is broccoli (green) and rice (yellow) is the staple. The miso soup has tofu (red) and veggies (green).

   Things like sugar and fried foods are warned against, but I think this is healthier because there’s no real food shaming or negatives.

   Edit: school lunches come with milk, and they put in a lot of veggies in everything. A pasta dish will have onions, peppers, carrots and more as a matter of course.