A publishing company announced 10 buzzwords as "The keywords-of-the-year 2010"(流行語大賞 2010) last week. Among these ten frequently used words in Japan for 2010, here I introduce two related to "food".
* "Taberu ra-yu" (食べるラー油, chili oil for eating)
Ra-yu(chili oil) is the one we can find at Chinese restaurants and what we put for dim-sum, the most often gyoza (餃子). Normally what we know is hot oil in orange color, simply liquid form, while "Taberu ra-yu" includes full of small pieces of both chili and garlic tips. (as you can see this photo) The oil brings yummy garlic scent that strongly stimulates our appetite!! Apart from those who hate hot and spicy food, everybody have been nocked out by the garlic scent, I guess. Put the oil on top of steamed rice or tofu, salad. If you would like to have something gorgeous, boild pork must be matched well with "Taberu ra-yu". It is rather "for eating" than "for dipping and seasoning". That is the reason of the naming "Taberu ra-yu".
A major food producer Momoya launched their first product in "Taberu ra-yu" category in mid-2009. It captured Japanese people's mind across ages and regions. Seeing the populatlity, a major spice maker, S&B foods followed its rival and introduced thier version of "Taberu ra-yu" in Spring 2010. The war of "Taberu ra-yu" started at that time. The wider people acknowledged the products the more it became wanted. For a while, as soon as bins of "Taberu ra-yu" were placed, they had been quickly run out from the shelves of supermarkets across Japan. Day by day, the phenomenon caught the attention of other food producers and food service companies of course. Now we can see differnt versions of "Taberu ra-yu" by different producers and dishes arranged with the very popular ingredient at Chinese or Japanese casual restaurants.
Yes, surely it was so popular and is one of the keywords of the year in 2010.
Below the product by Momoya and its rival by S&B Foods.
* "Jyoshi-kai" (女子会, Girls Party)
The word is new but the concept is never new, I believe as a girl or a lady...
The food service industry newly paid more attention on exclusive gathering among girls or ladies recently. They started organizing and offering course menu or package plan targeting ladies only groups called "Joshi-kai", featuring food ingredients particularly appreciated by ladies; good for beauty or help for controling their weight, good visual presentation and tasty of course.
Ladies prefer to try different plates even by small portion for each and they must be price-sensitive... Some can be attentioned on thoese points.
Restaurants competed for Joshi-kai plan each other. It is good for femal consumers to have more attractive choices. Such girls party or Joshi-kai may be held among femal colleagues for socializing or networking, otherwise simply among groups with same interests, among good friends, as seen in many of other parts of the world. Surely all are relaxing and fun time for ladies
Should we think about boys plan next year?... Yes, maybe.
I am looking forward to finding "the keywords-of-the-year 2011 a year ahead from now.
