Abstract
The present experimental study was a trial in order to test the hypothesis that Japanese eating habit has been changing as time passes. As the typical food for testing around the 1950's,1970's and the present era respectively, we selected three menus from two former and one current school lunch, which were normally eaten by numerous school children. The content of the lunches had been properly recorded and were able to be reproduced. Six subjects agreed to take part in the present experiment, and the total amount of mastication and the time for eating for each subject to eat each test food thoroughly were calculated through recorded videotapes.
The mean values from all of the subjects were compared to each other on the amount of mastication and the time required for eating the three kinds of the test food. The amount of mastication decreased with a shortened time for eating when eating the current lunch, compared to when eating the other two former lunches, In the replacement experiment, however, when Japanese rice mixed with the wheat of the current lunch was replaced by the French roll for the lunch of the 1950's with the same side dishes and milk, the amount of mastication increased with a longed time for eating, compared to the original current lunch.
The results from the replacement experiment indicated that the difference between the ages was not necessarily due to the change in Japanese eating habits as time passed. If the side menus are replaced and the method of cooking is changed, other results may be obtained. It appears to be quite difficult to determine the typical food eaten usually by Japanese at each time, based on just a few menus.
