Shokuiku:

A holistic approach to healthy

longevity and inheritance of
dietary culture
Highlights from the Shokuiku Roundtable: Foreign Perspectives

Chair: Melissa K. Melby (MM), PhD

Shokuiku Project Leader, National Institute of Health and Nutrition

Participants:
Yujin Oh (YO), PhD
Korea: Visiting Fellow, National Institute of Health and Nutrition

David Lee (DL)

United Kingdom: Tokyo Institute of Technology, Post-graduate student

Rushanthi Jayawardene (RJ)

Sri Lanka: Student

Moussa Ndong (MN), PhD

Senegal: Tokyo University of Agriculture, Visiting scientist

9

Dr. Melissa Melby, Shokuiku Project
Leader in the National Institute of
Health and Nutrition. Anthropologist
and epidemiologist. Mother of two
children.
Women have more responsibility for
the health of their families and food.
Shokuiku and shokuji-related
problems in your own countries
MM: Behind the Act on Shokuiku,
which was passed in 2005, there are a
number of food and nutrition issues,1
such as (1) lack of proper concern for
food; (2) an increase in irregular and
nutritionally unbalanced meals; (3)
the rise in obesity and lifestyle-related
diseases; (4) excessive desire to be slim,
especially among young females; (5) a
series of incidents related to food safety;
which leads to the next issue, (6) over-
dependence on food from abroad, and
(7) loss of traditional food culture in this
globalized world.
The Shokuiku Basic Act supports
education, primarily in schools, but also
in families and communities. In my
own research, I have been looking at
the societal constraints in Japan. Food
is expensive and people are very busy
and don’t have much time to eat together
as families, many people skip breakfast
and many kids eat breakfast and dinner
by themselves. Shokuiku encourages
people to eat breakfast every day, and
eat together as a family, but when people
are not home and kids are going to juku
(cram school) and fathers work late and/
or go drinking after work, it is very hard
for people to eat together. There are
also a lot of convenience foods that are
available. These are some of the issues
that the Shokuiku Basic Act is trying
to address, but there are some ways
in which the constraints and factors
influencing these changing patterns are
not being adequately addressed.
Please share with us how your Shoku
(food) culture is transmitted through
families and societies in your own
countries. Given that the concerns in
Japan are primarily people eating very
unbalanced foods, eating at strange
hours, not eating as families, skipping
breakfast, etc. – do any of your countries
have t ho s e p r o b le m s , d o y o u s e e
changes?
YO: In Korea, rates of young people
skipping breakfast are two to three times
higher than in Japan, and particularly
high among people in their 20-30s
(about 25% by a national survey). In
high school, people study a lot and
go to private academic schools after
school. So we have focused on two
topics: breakfast skipping and family
meals. Students eat dinner at school or
in restaurants by themselves. We tried
to educate people about family meals
focusing on dinner, but family meals
are difficult because of fathers’ lack of
time. So instead we have a campaign
‘Let’s eat breakfast with rice’. Yet there
are opposite opinions – asking why just
rice? If you want to support farmers, you
10
can find other ways. So support for the
campaign is decreasing.
Koreans tend to go to school at 8am,
so many people have to leave home
between 6-7am. People don’t have time
to eat breakfast at home, so we have
a school breakfast program. There is
also bad snacking behavior. In Korea,
there are a lot of street foods – people
selling unhygienic foods, and children
can buy them. A law was passed
prohibiting sales of street snack foods
to children, but it started in April 2009
so we don’t have results yet. People
have to pay a fine if they sell to kids.
I think Japanese Shokuiku and Korean
Shokuiku are similar but the methods
of implementation are different. The
Korean government seems to use
more prohibitions and restrictions to
encourage health dietary behavior, while
the Japanese Shokuiku system seems
to be a more environmental system
– involving families and schools, the
Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare,
Cabinet office, local health centers, etc.
MM: Is the reason for the emphasis on
consuming rice at breakfast because
with rice people tend to eat fish and
vegetables as well so you might achieve
better nutritional balance?
YO: I think they are pushing breakfast
with rice because they want to sell more
rice, not just for nutritional balance.
The young generation likes Western
breakfasts because they are easy to cook,
and they can eat them easily.
So the Korean government and Korean
experts are focused on Japan because the
situation is similar, and we are looking
at how the Japanese government and
Shokuiku are dealing with the problems.
DL: I think there are two big themes
pertaining to the English case: one is
social changes which are happening
over time and the other is the
globalization issue and its effect on food
culture. I think the two are very much
interconnected. As in other countries,
ways of life in England have changed
since the second World War. In purely
economic terms, a shift in the labor
market from agricultural and heavy
industry to service industries. I think that
has had an effect.
For example, when the typical man
was a farmer or coal miner, he needed a
large breakfast to get out to work in the
morning. So his wife would get up and
cook him eggs and bacon and a big meal.
But now that the husband more likely
works in front of a computer in an office
somewhere there’s no longer so much
emphasis on loading up with energy
to do hard physical work, and more an
emphasis on saving time. So these kinds
of social changes will obviously have an
effect.
England’s food culture has become
strongly eroded by globalization.
Because we have become a multi-
ethnic society, it is no longer easy to
say what is ‘English cuisine’ and what
is not ‘English cuisine’. Particularly in
the case where foreign foods are more
well-adapted to a modern lifestyle, it
is natural that English foods have been
replaced. Asian foods have become more
popular because they are more suited to
the modern lifestyle. What this means in
cultural terms, is that young people are
no longer interested in learning the ways
of preparing and cooking foods that their
parents used to cook.
So I think the social changes link
directly to the erosion of our food
culture by globalization. And how this
impacts the family structure – mothers
are no longer teaching their daughters
how to cook, and I think this is a shame,
but it has not gone to the scale of Japan
where we don’t eat together. The average
family probably does not eat breakfast
together, because everyone leaves the
house at slightly different times, so they
may eat separately but still see each
other in the kitchen. In the evening,
because we don’t have so much overtime
and stressful working culture as in Japan,
the vast majority of working parents
get home in time for dinner, to eat with
their family. I think that is valuable for
maintaining the social cohesion of the
family. I have no idea how you could
effect such a thing in Japan, given the
modern working culture.
RJ: In Sri Lanka, in most cases people
do not eat breakfast together. Work
and school start at 8am and public
transportation is not very good so it
takes a long time for commuting. But
in schools there is a break around 10-
10:30, and many kids bring food and eat
breakfast then. Most students usually
bring their lunch as well to school. The
working class also eats lunch at work.
But for dinner, families usually eat
together.
Even in Sri Lanka, education is
quite stressful. There are not many
universities, so there are a lot of
competitions. After school you go for
extra classes, so people eat their meals at
11
Dr. Moussa Ndong from Senegal
Japan is mostly worried about
overnutrition, but in many countries
malnutrition, undernutrition and
overnutrition exist simultaneously.
schools.
I think there are a lot of people who
buy food and take it home. Most parents
are working and the child goes home
after cram school, so they don’t have
much time. Not really instant food – but
prepared food, take-away.
MM: We call it nakashoku in Japan.
In Sri Lanka, do you see major social
changes that have contributed to changes
in the diet in the last 20-30 years or so?
RJ: The prepared food may contribute to
the high levels of health problems such
as high cholesterol and diabetes.
MM: Is there much westernization of
the diet?
RJ: I think it has sort of westernized –
but mainly Sri Lankan Chinese food is
popular and also Indian food.
MN: In Senegal, we have two cases. In
the village, cuisine and dietary lifestyles
are still traditional. People mainly eat
all their meals together, and most people
are still primarily engaged in agriculture.
All the young people are leaving rural
areas, and now live in town. In towns,
like almost everywhere, people are busy,
and there are transportation problems.
Work starts at 8am and it is hard to eat
breakfast.
Our food is deeply influenced by
French colonization, because Senegal
was the entrance gate for European
colonization. So our breakfast is mainly
French style - baguette and butter. And
because children have to be at school
at 8am, the solution is you take your
baguette, put some butter on it, and run
out the door. I did it and my nephews are
still doing it. You can eat it at 10am – on
your break. In the past work schedules
used to be from 8-12, and then between
12-3 there would be a break and people
could eat lunch together. But now people
start working at 8am and finish at 4pm.
So now in towns, the only meal you can
enjoy with your family is dinner. You
can be at home by 7 or 8. In big towns,
like in Japan, people also skip breakfast.
MM: In the villages do people eat
traditional French breakfasts?
MN: No, they eat cereal–like couscous.
I like it but I skip breakfast every day–
except on weekends when I enjoy eating
breakfast because I have time.
MM: Why did you skip breakfast?
MN: I never had time, so I could skip
breakfast without any problem. It is
a bad habit I learned a long time ago.
In big towns, I think the situation is
similar – problems of time, problems
of transportation – you can only enjoy
dinner with your family.
Although there are laws regulating
foods that can be sold around schools,
there are still people selling bad foods in
front of schools. They try to control it,
but it is very difficult, and children have
to buy lunch. Now children have to buy
their food and it is not always safe – you
don’t know what kind of food you are
buying. Street food is a big problem in
Senegal.
But in Japan, they always eat lunch on
time. At 12 they stop working and they
eat.
MM: Another issue in Shokuiku is
trying to focus on the meal and eating
with people –enjoy the meal and feel
satiated, rather than just shoving it down
or watching TV. In Okinawa – the idea
of eating until you are 80% full – if
you are watching TV and eating in 5
minutes, you don’t even have time to
know when you are 80% full. That has
been identified as a factor contributing to
obesity.
YO: The 12 o’clock fixed lunch time is
the same in Korea. Korean people also
eat really fast, but my first impression
at cafeterias or restaurants in Japan was
that there were so many people eating
alone. In Korea, people don’t want to eat
lunch or dinner in a restaurant alone. I
thought it so strange.
MM: And Americans eat by themselves
in front of their computers, while
working and reading– so they can eat
with their families later.
MN: Sometimes in the train stations you
see people standing up and eating.
MM: Do any of your cultures have
stand-up-and-eat restaurants?
Everyone: No, not really.
Aims and global communication of
Shokuiku
MM: We have talked about problems,
but let’s talk about the aims of the
Shokuiku Act :1 (1) promoting people’s
health, physical, mental and social; (2)
getting people to appreciate their diets
and the role of the environment and
12
people involved; (3) involvement of
volunteers, and (4) especially parents
and teachers and daycare providers; (5)
understanding dietary issues, through
food-related experiences; (6) helping
people to make connections with
their food and between producers and
consumers and boosting self-sufficiency;
and (7) improving food safety.
Many countries have nutrition
education, but trying to integrate
everything from education and
production to consumption, health,
sustainable development and self-
sufficiency - the aims of the Shokuiku
Act are very broad.
Do you have any examples from your
own countries of trying to integrate
these issues, or how you think your own
countries could benefit from something
that is so integrated and broad? What
aspects of Japanese Shokuiku might be
interesting and useful to foreigners?
YO: Shokuiku is based on nutrition
education but it is not just about
nutrients. Some Japanese experts call it
‘nutrients, food and ecology’ education.
In Japanese Shokuiku there are many
companies involved that are developing
healthier foods and food labeling.
I am impressed with the extent and
cooperation in the Shokuiku movement –
involving governments, schools, NGOs,
volunteers, companies and food experts.
After deciding to implement Shokuiku,
they have acted together, from the
Cabinet Office to the students’ schools
and health centers and NGOs - in the
same year they seem to have passed
the law and implemented new school
curriculum about Shokuiku.
MM: The Cabinet Office oversees the
integration of Shokuiku, and the Ministry
of Education, Culture, Sports, Science
and Technology, the Ministry of Health,
Labor and Welfare, and the Ministry of
Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries have
been involved from the beginning. In
the case of Shokuiku there is a great deal
of integration, and implementation has
probably been more effective and faster
than in other programs and other places.
I want to mention the issue of how to
translate Shokuiku, because shoku is
very broad: food, diet, eating, culture are
all included. Right now it is translated as
‘Food and Nutrition Education’. I think
a long title would be ‘food and nutrition,
ecology, and dietary lifestyle education
and culture’. It is a very broad concept
that is not conveyed in one word very
well in English, so if you have any ideas
on how to translate this into English or
other languages, I’d like to hear them.
MN: We have something like that
in French – but they say ‘nutrition’,
not ‘food’. I think ‘food education’ is
broader than ‘nutrition education’ and so
it is better.
MM: And like Dr.Yujin said it also
includes ecology and culture. One step
in communicating Shokuiku outside of
Japan is to start with a good translation
of what it means.
YO: If a foreigner wants to know about
Shokuiku, they might want to know
about a 1-day scenario in Japan. For
example, a person arrives at the airport,
sees NTT’s nutrition label, purchases
subway and sees an “Eat Breakfast
Campaign” poster, and at lunch time
goes to a restaurant and sees information
about ‘healthier food’, and then goes to
a convenience store to purchase a snack
and sees other food labels. If the Cabinet
Office wants to introduce Shokuiku to
the general population, such a brochure
might be interesting to people.
MM: A ‘Day in the life of Shokuiku’
in Japan. Even a contrast might be
interesting: the problems vs. the
activities and aims of Shokuiku. Maybe
there could be a ‘Before Shokuiku’
booklet highlighting problems like
skipping breakfast, not eating together,
eating more western foods, with
implications for self-sufficiency, and an
‘After’ booklet highlighting the steps
people can take to eat breakfast, share
one meal together, buy local produce and
eat more Japanese food, etc.
MN: In Senegal we have similar
problems, because we use bread and rice
for many dishes – but we don’t produce
enough. So the government has been
trying to promote “Eat Senegalese”
because currently people eat mostly rice
and bread, and most rice and wheat are
imported. We have run some ads on TV.
However this program is not working.
MM: It is hard to change habits.
MN: It is a problem of culture. Our
tradition was not to eat rice, but now
there is a long history. When the French
colonized Viet Nam, they brought rice
to Senegal (another French colony), and
Senegal had to produce nuts for export.
And since then rice and bread have been
the staples eaten by most people in the
towns. And we don’t produce enough
rice, so it is very expensive. So we have
ads about eating Senegalese cereals.
You can make all recipes with sorghum,
millet and couscous, but people don’t
want to use it; they prefer rice. We
eat couscous, but we eat more rice.
Changing habits is very, very difficult.
Also in Senegal, we have problems of
both overnutrition and malnutrition in
13
Dr. Yujin Oh, from Korea
In Korea, rates of young people
skipping breakfast are two or three
times higher than in Japan.
some areas. I worked with a program
doing health and growth checkups of
children, and it had sections on food
education, about what kinds of foods
are good for children – we teach them
about the importance of protein, benefits
of breastmilk, exclusive breastfeeding
for the first 6 months, and appropriate
weaning foods. The program has been
conducted for 10 years, and there have
been very good results, unlike the ‘Eat
Senegalese’ campaign.
MM: I think in Japan, and worldwide,
targeting women when they are pregnant
or have little children, that’s when
they have real incentive to learn about
nutrition. In Japan, there are problems
like dieting and undernutrition of adult
women, and not knowing how to cook
for their kids. I think you can teach
kids in school, but in some ways they
don’t have as much incentive to learn.
It’s when they’re older, living on their
own, when they need to be cooking –
I think that is a good target population
for nutrition education. They are most

Mr. David Lee from the United Kingdom
I have a feeling that if you create a
population where all the women take health
seriously, somehow naturally the men will
start taking it seriously.
receptive to nutrition education at that
stage in their life, in both developing and
in developed countries.
MN: There are two paths related to food
education. For some people you have to
teach them how to balance their nutrition
because they are overweight. For others
you have to teach them how to use
vitamins to get good health.
I often use the example of polyphenols.
It is about balance. In Japan or other
developed countries, you can say eat
a lot of foods containing polyphenols
because they are good for health. But
if you go to a poor area, you cannot
tell them to eat so much polyphenols
because they chelate iron. For people
who are anemic, don’t have enough
food, or have other vitamin deficiencies,
if they eat food with a lot of fiber
the absorption of nutrients will be
decreased. This is a problem. Nutrition
advice and food education depends on
the target population: some people need
to decrease and other people need to
increase.
MM: Japan is mostly worried about
overnutrition, but in many countries
malnutrition, undernutrition and
overnutrition exist simultaneously –
even in the same families.
MN: If you go to a big town, you have
overnutrition, people are overweight. In
other areas, people need supplements. In
Japan the main problem is overnutrition.
But it really depends on the population.
MM: And that is an issue with trying to
translate and introduce Shokuiku abroad.
Certainly in the US and Western Europe,
overnutrition is the main problem. But
Japan has an exception in terms of
young women dieting and not getting
adequate nutrition and an increase in low
birthweight babies. This is a developed
country, but it actually shares some
problems with developing countries –
not because of lack of access to food, but
because of cultural, body image issues.
YO: Korea does too. We have similar
p r o b l e m s w i t h y o u n g w o m e n ’s
malnutriton and underweight. In Korea,
some children are overweight, some
are underweight. So how about when
the Cabinet Office wants to introduce
Shokuiku, they could produce different
c a m p a i g n s t o h i g h l i g h t d i ff e r e n t
problems, such as breakfast skipping.
MM: So perhaps different pamphlets.
One on food self-sufficiency – shared
with Senegal, which has to import
most of their staples. One on breakfast
skipping and young women dieting,
shared with Korea.
MN: The first thing we need to teach
people is good health and good nutrition.
If they understand good nutrition (and
parameters like healthy ranges for BMI,
BP), you can use the same message. If
14
these parameters are not OK, then you
should do something. The message is: if
you are out of this range, you have to do
something. If you are skipping breakfast,
depending on whether you under or over,
you have to do something. Because even
skipping breakfast can lead to obesity.
MM: That may even be one of the
causes. Many problem behaviors start
early in people’s teens and 20s, when
they are still fairly healthy, and they can
eat really bad and have bad lifestyles,
but you don’t see the effects until later,
in their 40s and 50s. The delayed effects
of bad nutrition make it very hard to get
the message to people when they need
it. It is different with little kids, because
then you see the effects very quickly –
when kids are stunted, or not growing.
But once you are an adult, you can do
a lot of things to your body in your 20s
and 30s – not sleep, not exercise, not eat
– and then all of sudden in your 40s you
have problems. It’s really hard to change
behavior, especially when people don’t
see immediate negative effects. And it
changes so gradually that people often
don’t notice the loss of quality of life.
MN: The advice is to eat vegetables,
but some people only eat meat and little
vegetables and don’t get sick. You can
eat meat for 20 years, and you’re still
genki (healthy). So, it is very difficult to
get these ideas across to people.
MM: Any ideas on how to do that?
MN: It is necessary to be aware of
parameters. The mothers in our program
in Senegal, we educated them about
the weight of the baby, using a graph
with red, yellow and green. Even if the
mother is illiterate, she can understand
that green is good and red is bad. When
you weigh the baby and put a dot in the
red, she knows – her baby is in the red
color, she has to do something.
MM: Even for adults, you can do that
for BMI, blood pressure, etc.
DL: I think the main problem is that
people have too many other things they
are worried about, apart from food. So
if you can link the food worry to all
their other worries, it might have better
results.
MM: Give people the information and
show them the patterns, and suggest that
they might want to consider them. That’s
what government public health should
be doing – providing good, correct
information so people can make these
decisions.
MN: Another thing is human nature.
They have to see the benefit. You have
to link these things to their health, or
something they are worrying about.
M M: I t i s a l ot eas i er t o do t hat
when somebody has had the personal
experience of being sick. But we want
to prevent them from getting ill in the
first place. That’s why you need to use
the data from other people, so they can
To s h i k o K o n d o , a p i o n e e r i n g
Japanese dietitian, proposed a three
color guide for balanced nutrition.
Yellow signifies food for power, green
signifies food for conditioning of the
body, and red signifies food for blood
and muscle. This simple schema is
studied in elementary school.
Intake of specific foods such as
beans, sesame, eggs, milk or dairy
products, vegetables, fish, mushroom
and potatoes is recommended by
the mnemonic phrase “ma-go-ta-
chi-wa-ya-sa-shi-I” which means
“grandchildren are kind”.
change their behavior. Any other advice
for the government?
MN: From my experience, it is better to
mainly target the women. Even if you
teach men about health and food, it is
better to target women.
MM: Generally around the world
women have more responsibility for the
health of their families and food. We
shouldn’t forget the men, but maybe put
a little more money into the women.
Does the other man in the group agree
with that?
DL: I agree. I can’t tell you why, but Ms. Rushanthi Jayawardene from Sri Lanka
People do not eat breakfast together, but
instinctively I have a feeling that if you families usually eat together for dinner.
create a population where all the women
take health seriously, somehow naturally MN: It is easier for a wife to teach her
the men will start taking it seriously husband and to convince her husband to
more. If you do it the other way around, eat healthy, than the other way around.
if you start off with men leading as an MM: So, would you extend that into
example, it won’t work as well. I can’t schools though? Do you think girls
tell you why, but I think there must be an and boys should be getting different
anthropological reason. A female-centric education regarding Shokuiku?
focus – I totally agree with that. MN and DL: Oh, possibly.
MM: Women’s education generally MN: I think kids are very important. I
improves the quality of life and health of can give you an example. If you take the
their families and children much faster rate of AIDS, Senegal has the lowest rate
than male education. in Africa. Why? As a youth, I learned
15
about it in primary school – we knew
everything. They gave us a book, with a
very strange character that represented
the virus, and from then on you were
scared – for life. So if you teach young
people that if they eat too much fat, you
won’t have a chance to live more than
70 years or so. When a young boy hears
this, he will he do something about it.
MM: So priority targets for Shokuiku: 1.
Young people, 2. Women, and 3. Men.
The government is constrained here; it
doesn’t have endless amounts of money
to invest in these programs, so they need
to target the populations that will be
most effective.
Chair’s summary
Our discussion of first impressions
of Japanese food and dietary lifestyle
highlighted many Shokuiku-related
issues such as the importance (and
decline) of rice consumption in Japan
as well as seafood, seasonality and
freshness in Japanese cuisine. The
relatively high use of soy sauce, salt and
sugar compared to some countries was
noted, and associated concerns about
health implications, as well as rapid
westernization of Japanese cuisine.
Although few spices are used in Japanese
cuisine compared to some countries,
most Japanese eat anything – there are
very few dietary restrictions for religious
or other reasons, and yet young people,
particularly those who rely on restaurant
food, seem to have inadequate intake of
meat/fish and vegetables, and perhaps
are turning to dietary supplements to
balance their diets.
Several commonalities in terms
of Shokuiku-related problems were
discovered. Senegal shares similar
c o n c e r n s a b o u t s e l f - s u f f i c i e n c y,
particularly of staple cereal crops.
Dieting of young women and skipping
breakfast are big problems in Korea.
Globalization has eroded traditional
food culture in the UK. Families’
work schedules and children’s school
schedules, as well as academic pressure
in Korea and Sri Lanka have made it
difficult for families to eat together and
for children to eat breakfast at home.
Creating a ‘day in the life of Shokuiku’
and pamphlets on international
16
comparisons might assist in introducing
Shokuiku abroad.
Historical influences of colonization,
current influences of globalization,
and change from agriculture to post-
industrial modern lifestyles have
had great effects on people’s dietary
habits and needs. Shokuiku should be
tailored to populations and individuals,
as problems vary considerably. The
challenges of changing behavior,
particularly when effects of poor
nutrition are often delayed many years,
led to discussion of various tactics
to help people link dietary behavior
to other concerns such as school or
job performance. Understanding
healthy parameters such as BMI, and
information such as that provided
visually in easy-to-understand food
icon labels would be helpful. Targeting
children and women first is likely to be
most effective.
Reference
1. Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and
Fisheries.What is "Shokuiku (Food
Education)"?, 2008.