This is a subject where I think stereotypes diverge greatly from the reality. Ask someone what the Japanese eat and you get tales of lots of vegetable-based side dishes lovingly prepared, but if you observe the reality you’ll find that fast foods and fried foods abound, and vegetables are often limited to just a lettuce leaf or a teacup-sized salad of sliced cabbage. To find out more about this subject, DIMSDRIVE Research recently performed a survey on vegetables.
Demographics
Between the 18th and 26th of July 2007 8,135 members of DIMSDRIVE Research’s monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 57.0% of the sample was female, 0.8% in their teens, 14.9% in their twenties, 35.5% in their thirties, 28.5% in their forties, 14.1% in their fifties, and 6.2% aged sixty or older. In addition, 12.8% lived alone, 24.0% lived with one other person, 25.6% with two others, 24.1% with three others, and 13.5% with four or more other people.
Supermarket vegetable quality is very variable; I sometimes use Jusco or Daiei, and find that most of the time their veggies are average to poor quality. However, right opposite Jusco is Kohyo, a slightly more upmarket chain who are just as cheap, if not cheaper, than Jusco yet have so much higher quality. The best I’ve found in town was a farmer’s co-op shop that was almost half the price of the nearest supermarket.
In Q3SQ4, I was suprised to see that country or area of origin of food was relatively low on the list despite the recent scares about Chinese foods being laced with chemicals and the amount of emphasis that the average Japanese seems to place on foods from particular traditional localities in Japan.
Research results
Q1: Normally, about how often do you make food at home? (Sample size=8,135)
| Almost every day |
45.6% |
| Four or five times a week |
9.9% |
| Two or three times a week |
10.8% |
| Once a week |
7.4% |
| Once every two or three weeks |
3.6% |
| Once a month |
3.8% |
| Once every two or three months |
1.5% |
| Less than once every three months |
3.2% |
| Don’t make food at home |
14.2% |
As one might expect, those living by themselves were least likely to cook at home, with just 28.9% doing so every day.
Q2: Normally, about how often do you eat food that includes vegetables? (Sample size=8,135)
| Almost every day |
67.2% |
| Four or five times a week |
16.8% |
| Two or three times a week |
11.9% |
| Once a week |
2.2% |
| Once every two or three weeks |
0.8% |
| Once a month |
0.1% |
| Once every two or three months |
0.1% |
| Less than once every three months |
0.1% |
| Don’t eat vegetables |
0.8% |
As one might expect, the older one got the more frequently people ate vegetables, with women more frequent consumers than men. In fact, less than half (47.6%) of men in their twenties ate vegetables every day. This is probably due to a higher percentage of that age living alone, as only 38.4% of those of all ages who lived alone ate vegetables every day. For all other family sizes the daily consuming percentage was basically constant.
Q3: Normally, about how often do you eat buy vegetables? (Sample size=8,135)
| Almost every day (to SQ1) |
7.6% |
| Four or five times a week (to SQ1) |
10.8% |
| Two or three times a week (to SQ1) |
42.7% |
| Once a week (to SQ1) |
20.3% |
| Once every two or three weeks (to SQ1) |
3.5% |
| Once a month (to SQ1) |
1.7% |
| Less than once a month (to SQ1) |
1.8% |
| Don’t buy vegetables |
11.6% |
Again there was the pattern of more frequent buying for older people, and women more than men. Similarly, those living alone were much less frequent shoppers than those living with others.
Q3SQ1: What vegetable do you most often buy? (Sample size=7,194, free answer)
| Rank |
Vegetable |
Votes |
| 1 |
Cabbage |
1612 |
| 2 |
Onion |
1218 |
| 3 |
Tomato |
803 |
| 4 |
Lettuce |
752 |
| 5 |
Cucumber |
517 |
| 6 |
Carrot |
493 |
| 7 |
Potato |
312 |
| 8 |
Bean sprouts |
249 |
| 9 |
Leek, spring onions |
226 |
| 10 |
Spinach |
205 |
Q3SQ2: Where do you buy vegetables? (Sample size=7,194, multiple answer)
| Supermarket |
95.1% |
| Greengrocer |
25.8% |
| Cooperative (including home delivery) |
19.2% |
| Farm shop, market |
13.5% |
| Department store |
5.6% |
| Farmers’ cooperative |
4.0% |
| Home delivery service |
2.0% |
| Convenience store |
1.7% |
| Internet |
0.7% |
| Drug store |
0.6% |
| Other mail order |
0.1% |
| Other |
1.7% |
Q3SQ4: When buying vegetables, what points are important? (Sample size=7,194, multiple answer)
| Freshness |
84.3% |
| Price |
82.9% |
| Colour, sheen |
47.3% |
| Seasonal items |
40.1% |
| Area, country of origin |
38.7% |
| Size |
35.5% |
| Size of package (number, weight) |
27.9% |
| Firmness, softness (ripeness) |
27.0% |
| Not genetically modified |
17.9% |
| No agro-chemicals used |
17.0% |
| Organic |
14.1% |
| Nutritional value |
13.4% |
| Grower |
8.2% |
| Package |
1.2% |
| Other |
0.5% |
| Nothing in particular |
1.2% |
Q3SQ5A: Select which of the following you think apply to greengrocers. (Sample size=1,859, those who shop at greengrocers, multiple answer)
| Cheap |
67.9% |
| Fresh |
67.6% |
| Good quality |
49.5% |
| Delicious |
33.9% |
| Safe |
28.3% |
| Well-presented |
26.5% |
| Highly nutritious |
11.7% |
| None of the above |
2.4% |
Q3SQ5B: Select which of the following you think apply to supermarkets. (Sample size=6,841, those who shop at supermarkets, multiple answer)
| Cheap |
69.3% |
| Well-presented |
53.6% |
| Fresh |
35.6% |
| Good quality |
26.7% |
| Safe |
16.8% |
| Delicious |
9.8% |
| Highly nutritious |
4.3% |
| None of the above |
4.0% |
Q3SQ5C: Select which of the following you think apply to convenience stores. (Sample size=125, those who shop at convenience stores, multiple answer)
| Cheap |
32.0% |
| Good quality |
13.6% |
| Fresh |
24.0% |
| Delicious |
13.6% |
| Safe |
5.6% |
| Well-presented |
4.8% |
| Highly nutritious |
4.0% |
| None of the above |
43.2% |
Q3SQ5D: Select which of the following you think apply to cooperatives (including home delivery). (Sample size=1,382, those who shop at cooperatives (including home delivery), multiple answer)
| Good quality |
71.2% |
| Safe |
66.5% |
| Fresh |
46.2% |
| Delicious |
34.9% |
| Cheap |
20.2% |
| Well-presented |
18.0% |
| Highly nutritious |
15.6% |
| None of the above |
3.3% |
Q3SQ5E: Select which of the following you think apply to farmers’ cooperatives. (Sample size=291, those who shop at farmers’ cooperatives, multiple answer)
| Fresh |
71.8% |
| Good quality |
57.4% |
| Cheap |
56.4% |
| Safe |
49.5% |
| Delicious |
43.0% |
| Highly nutritious |
21.6% |
| Well-presented |
17.9% |
| None of the above |
2.4% |
Q4: Do you think you consume enough vegetables in your daily life? (Sample size=8,135)
| Eat enough |
9.9% |
| Perhaps eat enough |
35.9% |
| Can’t say either way |
20.7% |
| Perhaps don’t eat enough |
26.1% |
| Don’t eat enough |
7.4% |
By age, those over sixty felt most confident that they were getting enough veggies, and men felt more confident than women about their intake. Looking at family size, again those living alone were the outliers; other family sizes all had similar degrees of confidence.
Q5: When you feel you aren’t consuming enough vegetables, what do you do? (Sample size=8,135, multiple answer)
| Drink vegetable juice |
49.1% |
| Eat food with vegetables |
47.4% |
| Eat nutritional foods or drinks |
19.8% |
| Take supplements |
10.1% |
| Other |
0.5% |
| Nothing in particular |
14.6% |
| Don’t feel I’m not geting enough vegetables |
6.3% |
Men were significantly more likely to drink juice rather than eat vegetable-based food, whereas for women there was just a small preference for eating vegetables. Those living alone were much more ready to reach for the bottle or can to supplement their veggie intake.
Q6: When you feel you want to eat some vegetables, what do you choose? (Sample size=8,135, free answer)
| Rank |
Dish |
Votes |
| 1 |
Salad |
2271 |
| 2 |
Fried vegetables |
1682 |
| 3 |
Soup |
659 |
| 4 |
Hot-pot |
286 |
| 5 |
Steamed vegetables |
282 |
| 6 |
Boiled vegetables |
276 |
| 7 |
Miso soup |
189 |
| 8 |
Pot au feu |
179 |
| 9 |
Curry |
128 |
| 10 |
Chop suey |
114 |
| 11 |
Vegetable side dish |
114 |
| 12 |
Juice |
87 |
| 13 |
Pork soup |
73 |
| 14 |
Minestrone |
73 |
| 15 |
Cabbage salad, vegetable julienne |
69 |
Subscribe to feed