An Analysis of Consumers' Needs on Foods

Abstract

Since World War II Japanese diet has been extremely changed. Till the middle of 1970's, the principal change was that of their eating materials. For example, the consumption of meat increased rapidly, whereas that of rice declined. Since then, the important change was an increase in “cooked foods” and “eating out”. It is called “the externality of dietary life” and “the dependenee on non-home-made food.”
This paper investigates “the externality and the dependence” and its influences to the food supply in Japan. The major results of its analysis are as follows:
(1) Food expenditure of spending on “cooked foods” and “eating out” sharply increased and formed 24 percent of the total food expenditure in 1988.
(2) Share for materialistic foods which need processing in household has declined from 73 percent of total spending on food in 1965 to 57 percent in 1988.
(3) Dietary life in dishes has also changed. Dishes simple and easy to cook tend to be preferred, and dishes which take time to cook have been substituted by “cooked foods.” Also, home-made dishes have now come to depend upon varieties of food materials.
(4) In case of vegetables, due to the changes in consumption the supply for business use has increased, whereas the supply for home consumption has varied in species.