Yomiuri: Snack foods' image to get makeover
Purveyors of cheap and delicious foods such as yakisoba and oden are doing their best to get the snacks recognized as major foods...A B-1 Grand Prix for the prepared dishes, known in Japanese as Class-B foods, held in mid-February in Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, attracted more visitors than expected...A 34-year-old Tokyo man on a business trip to the city said the event's title gave it an aura of a martial arts competition. "It's interesting and all the foods are delicious," he said, taking a big mouthful of tofuchikuwa, sausage made from tofu...B-1 is not the only event trying to promote Class-B foods. In January, a national yakitori liaison council was established to promote yakitori worldwide...Yoshiharu Hibiki, owner of the Hibiki chain, which runs take-out yakitori stands in Higashi-Matsuyama and other places, is one of the council's founder members...Yakitori has traditionally been seen as more suitable for occasions tinged with a sense of sadness than celebration, an image that Hibiki blames for a decline in the number of people running yakitori bars..."I want to make yakitori a fast food snack popular with high school girls," he said...more...
