Homegrown veg, cheap substitutes: Japanese get creative to fight soaring food prices


  • World
  • Friday, 31 Jan 2025

37-year-old YouTuber Kazuki Nakata looks at his indoor farm at his home in Kawasaki Japan January 27 2025. REUTERSTom Bateman

37-year-old YouTuber Kazuki Nakata looks at his indoor farm at his home in Kawasaki, Japan January 27, 2025. REUTERS/Tom Bateman

TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese homemaker Kirina Mochizuki has always considered "okonomiyaki" savoury pancakes the ultimate comfort food: simple, satisfying and cheap.

These days, though, it's a struggle to get the dish, a favourite among Hiroshima natives like herself, on the table. With the price of cabbage - a key ingredient - tripling recently, Mochizuki makes daily trips to the supermarket in search of discounted produce, or resorts to using dried seaweed.

Uh-oh! Daily quota reached.


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