Japanese Baby Food
Okay, this is going to sound strange, but I was hoping that someone here might be able to help on this one. I am currently studying for a Masters in International Business, and for a project with a group of mine, we have to pretend that we are a part of a large company, like Heinz, and that we are trying to market baby food in Japan.
I am trying to come up with flavors, since they probably arent' the same as those found in the US. I have found great websites, but unfortunately, they all seem to be in Japanese, which I dont read. Does anyone have any ideas?
Also, if you are at all familiar with Japan, how is baby food generally marketed in Japan? Do they have commercials, or billboards or adverts in clinics?
I know that this is sort-of outside of the scope of this site, but I was just hoping for anything that might help. Many thanks for anything that you all have!
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
Start Talking!
Need a question answered? Have advice to share? Start a Talk topic now!
Sign up to get your questions answered and share advice.
11 Comments:
Go to AsianFoodGrocer.com and check out some of the flavors of food they have. Japanese sweets aren't like ours. They're much more subtle instead of being so cloyingly sweet they burn your throat. They use flavors like muscat and white peach and sweeten breads and stuff with red bean paste. There may even be some baby food on that site!!
DCraver at 3:31PM on 09/17/08
I currently live in the U.S. but I'm Japanese. What time of baby food are you thinking of? Savory? Sweet? Usually they're adapted from dishes that Japanese adults usually eat (beef stew, risotto, miso flavored udon, meatballs cooked with soy sauce and sugar, gratin, pumpkin cream soup, etc)
I rarely see TV commercials/ads/billboards for baby food in Japan so I'm assuming marketing is done via ads in baby magazines, clinics, etc.
flavors at 4:13PM on 09/17/08
I just finished reading a book called "Japanese Women Don't Get Old or Fat", which talks about Japanese home cooking and touches on the baby food situation. As I recall, it's common for parents to make a baby-safe portion of what the rest of the family is having.
marzipanda at 5:00PM on 09/17/08
Thanks for the start! Well, we are marketing (for the course, so it was that or we had to somehow market contraceptives to Japan - not a great idea in a country with a negative growth rate, right?), baby food that can be purchased for six-month-olds to toddlers right before they start on actual food food, so to speak. We want to have a variety of flavors, but stay away from anything too sweet, really. Any suggestions?
And thanks for the website. I had totally forgotten about that!
Traveller at 5:18PM on 09/17/08
I don't know about Japan, but in Hong Kong baby food was just a novelty when I was a kid ( long time ago). Babies got soupy rice the younger the baby the soupier rice, until they worked up to rice. My mom used to throw in ground meat, or eggs for flavour and then leave it in there when I was ready for meat bits. I would think this goes on in Japan too.
Sweetie at 6:06PM on 09/17/08
I was a nanny for a Japanese-Brazilian family (did you know that Brazil has the highest concentration of expat Japanese in the world?)
Anyways, all of the baby food was homemade. The most notable thing was a pureed oatmeal dish that could be customized with whatever fruit or vegetable was around; I seem to remember a lot of plums.
As a snack, the baby ate puffed rice.
Not sure if this was more Brazilian than Japanese (Japan doesn't really strike me as an oatmeal place per se).
The best part was that I'd always get a nice meal out of it too, usually rice and some kind of vegetable dish!
Lilly at 8:37PM on 09/17/08
I lived in Japan for 3 years and my good friend who is Japanese made her own baby's food. I remembered she would cook vegetables and puree them (they have specific puree devices for baby food). Also she fed her these puffed rice crackers that were long shaped that the baby loved. Once the baby was old enough to grasp and slightly chew she gave her slices of tomatoes. Recently when I went to visit, she was feeding her newest baby pureed oatmeal.
When we were there I don't ever remember seeing advertisements for baby food, or seeing actual baby food in the stores.
jenn3250 at 12:04AM on 09/18/08
I seem to remember a story about Gerber trying to sell their baby food- it may have even been in Japan. Anyway, in the particular market they were targeting, the standard was to put a picture of the contents on the outside. And as you are aware, the Gerber logo features a baby...
Folks were horrified.
Kerosena at 10:47AM on 09/18/08
Yes a lot of people do still make their own baby food (take some food out of the pot before they season it and puree/mashed to obtain the desired consistency) but mothers today are using more store bought baby food than the previous generations, especially the working mothers. I've seen baby food in regular supermarkets and pharmacies. It's not that uncommon. Most come in aluminum pouches and some are sold in jars.
In terms of flavors, you probably need them to be more complex rather than simple (for example creamy chicken gratin rather than just chicken flavor; beef stew with demi glace vs. beef). If it's a baby version of a Japanese dish, the main flavor should be dashi (kelp & bonito broth) with a little bit of salt or soy sauce/sugar/etc. The more appetizing it sounds to the mother, the more likely she'll buy it. The desserts are usually fruit/vegetable flavors (apple, squash, sweet potato, carrot, etc). Kabocha squash and Japanese sweet potato (satsuma imo) are very popular flavors with women and kids.
flavors at 10:56AM on 09/18/08
Wow, again, thank you all so much! This is perfect!
@Kerosena: That was in Africa, and it was because the literacy rate is so low there that food companies usually put the pictures of the products inside on the labels. Gerber learned that the hard way, I guess....
Traveller at 11:09AM on 09/18/08
Our baby eats what we eat, with less flavouring and cut up smaller. We sometimes buy pouches of stew, rice porridge or pasta sauces if we travel. But I agree with the general concencus here.
bobbystokes at 8:29AM on 11/15/08