What is the Most Consumed Vegetable in Japan?
It’s not what you might have guessed
My dad brought up the question at the dinner table: “What do you think is the most consumed vegetable in Japan?”
My sister chimed in: “Onions? Or potatoes maybe?”
“I think it could be cabbage. They use them in salads all the time.”
“Do soybeans count?"
According to a national survey in 2012 by the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan, none of these are correct. It's daikon, or Japanese radish.
The Japanese radish
Excluding processed foods (i.e., potato chips or boxed juices), it turns out the most consumed vegetable in Japan is the daikon, measured by absolute weight. Based on the survey, on average Japanese people eat about 33. grams of this vegetable daily.
I never considered myself an avid consumer of daikon, so this fact surprised me a little bit. Onions and potatoes I would use in soups and stews, and I would often use shredded cabbage in my salads. But daikon didn’t even cross my mind.
So where is all this daikon consumption coming from?
