Some of retail shops and food makers began to demonstrate sales of “vegetable chips,” deep-fried thin slices of vegetables, as ingredients for cooking. Vegetable chips are not only taken as snacks, but also used in various forms such as a garnish on the dish.
Ryohin Keikaku Co., Lit., headquartered at Toshima-ku, Tokyo, a global corporation operating production and retailing of MUJI (literally, no brand name) products, is now selling vegetable chips with a message of “Enjoy your curry rice topped with vegetable chips!”
The Ryohin Keikaku started to sell three kinds of vegetable chips produced with sliced zucchinis and onions this March. A bag of the vegetable chips (35~40 grams) costs 280 yen, more than double the price of a potato chip bag marketed by the Company. People of the Ryohin Keikaku have a lot of confidence in boosting sales of these new goods saying “Vegetable chips will be popular standard goods.”
Calbee, Inc., one of the biggest snack food makers in Japan, based at Chiyoda-ku, Tokyo, has been marketing vegetable chips since November 2011. They send to consumers a message saying “Salad mixed with vegetable chips tastes good. Various soups with a vegetable chip floating are also delicious!” They also propose a number of recipes taking the chip as a garnish.
Sachiko Chiku, who is knowledgeable about vegetable dishes, points out that vegetable chips will be further appreciated as useful ingredients by consumers who wish to take more fresh vegetables, but do not have enough time to cook meals.