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The Reason of the Booming
The outbreak forced everyone to spend more time at home that makes more people lack exercise and lack vegetable intake, which led to weight increase. The Japanese which have high health consciousness, concern with this problem and started to be more careful in exercise and nutrition intake. That’s why soy meat, which is known for its high protein but low fat and calorie in addition to eco-friendly, is attracting everyone’s attention.
You can now easily find restaurants serving foods using soy meat and the soy meat itself at Japanese supermarkets.
Soy meat products in a Japanese supermarket
A variety of soy meat products
According to a report by the Japan Tourism Agency, there are 630 million vegetarians in the world and it is said that there are about 4% of vegetarians in Japan The the number of vegetarians is increasing year by year.
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Is Soy Meat Healthy?
Soy, which is the main ingredient of soy meat, is rich in nutrients such as essential amino acids, calcium, and B vitamins. Moreover, soy meat is made by pressing oil during processing so that it has less sugar content compared to meat, does not contain saturated fatty acids contained in animal fat, and zero cholesterol.
Is Soy Meat Halal?
In Japanese supermarkets that selling soy meat, you might easily find soy meat from 100% soy, with a vegan mark or plant-based mark that shows it is free from animal-derived ingredients.
However, there are products with a description that it is made from mixing soy meat with animal meat.
Important Note:
If you want to check all the ingredients and the presence of contamination, please directly contact the manufacturer.
Japanese Restaurants Serving Foods Using Soy Meat
Soy meat is widely used in a variety of foods, such as hamburgers, curry, pasta, gyoza, and more.
In Japan, there are restaurants (which also serve halal foods!) that attracting the attention of Japanese TV programs and also the world by offering an authentic taste of the food using all plant-based ingredients.
Saido, a vegan restaurant in Jiyugaoka, Tokyo, offers vegetable-derived tasty foods, which you will not notice is from plants if they don’t mention!
See Also
“Saido” (Tokyo) Shines No. 1 on the “Best Vegan Restaurants Worldwide” by Happy Cow!
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Furthermore, Yamamotoya Ookute branch in Nagoya that is known for its flavorful local soul food, miso-nikomi udon offers vegan miso-nikomi udon using soy meat that attracts a number of vegetarians visiting the restaurant and place orders on delivery service during the pandemic!
“BACKYARD BUTCHERS”, a vegan specialty food stall that opened at MetLife Dome (Saitama Seibu Lions) this March owned by a former baseball player offers a menu that using soybean meat and potato which are 100% vegetables and this shop recommendation menu is “Fried Soy Chicken Bowl”.
