Japanese told to eat more rice

The Japanese government has urged the nation to eat more rice in a new drive to boost the nation's self-sufficiency.

Once the most important ingredient in every Japanese meal, the average amount of rice eaten each day has shrunk by more than 50 per cent over the past 40 years.

The government has now unveiled plans to boost rice consumption in a bid to drive up the nation's self-sufficiency rate from 40 to 50 per cent within the next decade.

The recommended consumption rate of rice as astaple food has also been increased from 61 to 63 kilograms per person a year, Shigeru Ishiba, the agriculture minister announced.

"This target can be achieved if Japanese people eat an additional bite of rice at every meal," said a ministry official.

Traditionally the focal point of every meal in Japan, rice has steadily been eclipsed by Western foods such as pasta and cereals.

The self-sufficiency initiative is the latest in a string of government drives to encourage the nation to revert back to its traditional rice roots.

Earlier this year, ministers launched a major Y200million campaign to woo back a new generation of rice eaters in a bid to revive the domestic rice industry.

Bakeries across the country were urged to make bread with rice flour, local government cookery classes taught housewives how to make rice pasta and thousands of schools were served rice-based food for lunch.

Further steps towards agricultural self-sufficiency included the doubling of wheat production to 1.8 million tones and soybean from 230,000 tonnes to 500,000 tonnes as well as further hikes in dairy and milk output.

The ongoing decline in rice consumption has also impacted the waistlines of the nation.

During the past three decades, Japanese men have grown in weight by ten per cent and women by 6.4 per cent, according to government figures.

Since 2002 the number of obese and overweight Japanese over the age of 15 has risen from 28 to 36 million, according to a recent report by Datamonitor, the international market research analysts.

為提高本國的糧食自足率，日本政府日前鼓勵國民多吃大米。

大米曾是日本人餐桌上最重要的食品，而在過去40年中，日本人的日平均大米消耗量減少了50%多。

為實現在未來十年將糧食自足率從40%提高至50%的目標，日本政府日前公布了提高大米消耗量的新計劃。

據日本農業大臣太田誠一介紹，日本的年人均大米建議消耗量也從61公斤增長到了63公斤。

一位官員稱：“只要人們每頓多吃一口米飯，這個目標就能實現。”

曾為日本人一日三餐必不可需食品的大米如今已逐漸被通心粉和谷類等西方食品所取代。

日本政府采用了一系列辦法鼓勵國民吃大米。自給自足計劃是最新的措施。

今年早些時候，日本政府發起了一項耗資達2億日元的“回歸大米”運動，以振興本國的大米業。

此外，政府還敦促全國各地的面點店用米面做面包，地方政府組織家庭主婦學習如何做米制通心粉，數千所學校的午餐也都開始以大米類食品為主食。

日本提高糧食自給率的其它舉措還包括，糧食增產一倍，達到180萬噸；大豆產量從23萬噸減至50萬噸；以及進一步提高奶制品和鮮奶產量。

大米消耗量的持續下降已經影響到日本人的體重。

據政府統計數據顯示，在過去三十年中，日本男性的體重平均增長了10%，女性增長了6.4%。

據Datamonitor全球市場數據分析機構的一份最新報告顯示，日本15歲以上的肥胖和體重超標人數從2002年的2800萬增長到了現在的3600萬。

Vocabulary:

staple food:主食