Demand for '0.5 meals' spread in Japan due to busy daily lives and high prices... The spread of snacks such as dried sausages becoming meals

Demand for '0.5 meals' such as dried sausages spreads due to busy daily lives and high prices

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Choi Lee-rak = The Asahi Shimbun reported on the 10th that the phenomenon of 'snacks turning into meals', where people eat snacks or beef jerky as meal replacements, is spreading in Japan due to busy daily lives and high prices.

According to the newspaper, local confectionery companies are competitively releasing new products that emphasize meal satisfaction and nutritional supplements, such as protein-enhanced beef jerky, meal replacement rice crackers, and whole wheat cookies for breakfast.

Yagai, famous for its bite-sized dried sausages, introduced 'Support Meat' this month, containing 9 types of essential amino acids and 30g of protein.

Kameda Confectionery launched a rice pancake flavored with stone pot bibimbap, targeting the demand for '0.5 meals' for light meals, and Fujiya launched a new cookie to be eaten with milk or yogurt on busy mornings.

Koikeya also introduced a snack containing 33 nutrients, including vitamins and minerals, by applying the nutritional standards of its subsidiary Nissin Foods' nutritional enhancement brand 'Complete Messy'.

The transformation of snacks into meals seems to reflect the phenomenon of skipping meals, which is spreading mainly among people in their 10s to 40s, along with the prolonged high inflation rate, including the rise in rice prices.

According to a survey conducted by market research company Intige, approximately 34% of respondents aged 15 to 49 skipped meals more than once a week due to lack of time.

Experts point out that replacing meals with snacks is better than skipping meals altogether, but you should be wary of excessive picky eating.

Kazunaga Yazawa, a professor at Waseda University, said, "It can be an alternative if you balance the nutrition in other meals," but emphasized, "Eating habits that rely only on snacks can cause diabetes or aging of the skin and brain, so caution is needed."