Rice and eating habits of the Japanese

Rice has the image as the main staple of the Japanese dining table, so this recent survey from goo Research looked at rice and eating habits to find out the truth behind the stereotype.

Demographic

Between the 15th and 18th of November 2010 1,295 members of the goo Research monitor group completed a private internet-based questionnaire. 50.1% of the sample were female, 16.4% in their teens, 16.8% in their twenties, 16.3% in their thirties, 16.8% in their forties, 16.8% in their fifties, and 16.8% aged sixty or older.

We buy all our rice these days over the internet, and usually a different brand or region every time; we’re currently on Shiga rice of a brand whose name I couldn’t read. We sometimes pick up brown rice or brown rice blends, which makes a change from sometimes quite bland white rice.

However, if you think Japanese rice is bland, may I suggest getting a new rice cooker? We recently replaced our old one which cooked everything into a glutenous mulch, but now with the new one each grain remains distinct and much more pleasant on my taste buds. I still miss Basmati, however…

Rsearch results

Q1: Which staple do you usually eat at breakfast, lunch or dinner? (Sample size=1,295)

	Breakfast	Lunch	Dinner
Rice	38.3%	62.3%	88.2%
Bread	45.8%	11.0%	0.6%
Pasta, noodles	0.7%	23.4%	3.8%
None of the above	6.6%	2.2%	6.9%
Don’t eat at all	8.6%	1.2%	0.5%

Q2: About how much rice do you eat at one sitting on average? (Sample size=1,295)

75 grams or less	8.4%
150 grams or so	70.3%
300 grams or so	18.8%
450 grams or more	2.5%

Not surprisingly, men ate more rice than women; barely 10% of women managed more than 150 grams, yet around a third of men did.

Q3: Compared to a year ago, how has the number of times you have eaten rice changed? (Sample size=1,295)

Increased considerably (to SQ1)	5.8%
Increased a little (to SQ1)	10.3%
Not changed	71.5%
Decreased a little (to SQ2)	9.8%
Decreased considerably (to SQ2)	2.5%

Just over a quarter of teenaged girls has decreased their rice consumption frequency, yet almost 30% of those in their thirties has increased it. I suspect there must have been a number of rice diets and no rice diets published!

Q3SQ1: Why has your rice consumption frequency increased? (Sample size=209, multiple answer, top ten)

	All	Male N=80	Female N=129
Been eating at home more	45.5%	47.5%	44.2%
Been eating out less	30.6%	30.0%	31.0%
Became aware of the tastiness of rice	19.6%	21.3%	18.6%
Been eating more Japanese-centric meals	18.7%	10.0%	24.0%
Been considering health, nutritional balance	17.7%	15.0%	19.4%
Started cooking for myself	14.8%	12.5%	16.3%
To save money	14.4%	15.0%	14.0%
Family make-up has changed	12.9%	5.0%	17.8%
Became more interested in food	9.6%	13.8%	7.0%
Became aware of food safety issues	6.2%	7.5%	5.4%

Q3SQ2: Why has your rice consumption frequency decreased? (Sample size=160, multiple answer, top ten)

	All	Male N=68	Female N=92
For diet	30.6%	25.0%	34.8%
Been eating at home less	16.9%	19.1%	15.2%
Became aware of the tastiness of bread, pasta, etc	14.4%	11.8%	16.3%
Been eating out more	13.8%	14.7%	13.0%
Other	13.1%	13.2%	13.0%
Cooking rice has become too much trouble	9.4%	8.8%	9.8%
Been eating less Japanese meals	9.4%	8.8%	9.8%
Been considering health, nutritional balance	9.4%	10.3%	8.7%
Family make-up has changed	8.8%	4.4%	12.0%
Been ordering home delivery food more	7.5%	5.9%	8.7%

Q4: What is your most favourite type of rice? (Sample size=1,295)

White rice	65.5%
Brown rice, other grains mixed in	11.4%
Mixed with other ingredients	23.1%

White rice was more popular with older people, and mixed grains more popular with women by about two to one.

Q5: What is your most favourite strain of rice? (Sample size=1,295)

Rank	Strain	Percentage
1	Koshi hikari	28.1%
2	Akita komachi	7.9%
3	Hitomebore	2.5%
4	Milky queen	1.7%
5	Hino hikari	1.6%
	No particular preferences	47.0%

Q6: What is your most favourite rice-growing prefecture? (Sample size=1,295)

Rank	Prefecture	Percentage
1	Niigata	15.2%
2	Akita	5.6%
3	Hokkaido	3.1%
4	Miyagi	1.7%
5	Yamagata	1.6%
	No particular preferences	50.4%

Q7: How often have you bought the following over the internet in the last year? (Sample size=1,295, multiple answer)

	5 or more times	2 to 4 times	Once	None, but bought before	Never
Rice	4.3%	5.1%	3.5%	3.8%	83.3%
Bread	2.3%	2.1%	1.2%	4.6%	89.8%
Chocolate, cake, etc	2.8%	8.9%	8.0%	13.9%	66.4%
Other foodstuff (water, wine, beer, etc)	6.6%	8.3%	6.6%	11.7%	66.8%
Fish, shellfish, processed fish products	4.2%	9.0%	7.0%	11.0%	68.9%
Meat, processed meat products	4.2%	4.6%	4.2%	8.8%	78.2%
Fresh vegetables, fruit	3.7%	4.9%	3.1%	7.2%	81.2%

Q7SQ: What are the merits of buying rice over the internet? (Sample size=1,295, multiple answer)

	Have bought rice N=216	Not bought rice N=1,079
Don’t need to transport a heavy load	67.1%	60.9%
Cheap	44.0%	40.4%
Can get internet shopping points	30.1%	33.2%
Can buy whenever I need to	20.8%	22.2%
Easy to understand with comments from and photograph of grower	14.4%	13.1%
Can learn particular features of rice (nutritional information, recipes, etc)	14.4%	10.8%
Good freshness	10.2%	11.2%
Can buy in bulk	7.9%	8.0%
Other	8.3%	1.5%
Nothing in particular	—	16.9%