Sushi may be gaining followers around the world, but in Japan red meat may have overtaken fish on dinner tables as young people embrace Western-style food, the government said on May 22.
The carnivorous trend marks a turning point for Japan, which ate little meat other than seafood until the late 19th century.
Japan's annual volume of seafood purchases by households has plunged more than 20 percent over the past 40 years to 12.7kg per person in 2005, the fishery agency said in a white paper.
PHOTO: AFP
By contrast, purchases of other meat by Japanese households more than doubled to 12.6kg over the same period, the agency's annual report said.
"It would be no surprise if meat consumption has already surpassed seafood consumption by now," said Tomomi Hirano, a fishery agency official.
The decline in fish consumption was partially due to rising fish prices and a growing taste for easy-to-cook meat, but "the biggest reason behind the decline in seafood consumption is a change in people's tastes, particularly children," Hirano said.
Hirano added that "young generations are shifting their taste from traditional fish foods to meat-oriented dishes that we can often see in Western foods."
Some 32 percent of families said they cook meat more than fish because their family members, mostly children, dislike fish dishes, the report said.
"Those who did like fish in their childhood tend to avoid cooking fish when they grow up," Hirano said. "It's a vicious circle." (AFP)
日本政府五月二十二日表示，壽司也許風靡全球，但由於日本年輕人逐漸喜歡西方食物，餐桌上的魚可能已被紅肉取代。
這股肉食性潮流點出日本面臨了轉捩點。十九世紀晚期之前，日本人所吃的海鮮比肉品還多。
日本漁業局的白皮書中說，過去四十年以來，日本家庭每年的海鮮消費量下降了逾20%，二○○五年已降至每人十二點七公斤。
日本漁業局這份年度報告中說，相較之下，日本家庭其他種類的肉品消費量在同期兩倍增，達到十二點六公斤。
漁業局官員平野朋美說︰「假如肉品消費量現在已超越了海鮮，也沒什麼好訝異的。」
平野女士說，魚類食用量下降尤其可歸咎於魚價上揚，以及大眾逐漸喜歡易煮的肉類，但「海鮮食用量下滑的主因還是民眾口味改變，尤其是小朋友」。
平野女士也說，「年輕世代的口味逐漸從傳統魚食改為西餐中常見的肉食。」
這份報告中也指出，約32%的家庭說他們煮肉的機會多於煮魚，理由是家庭成員（多半是小孩）不喜歡吃魚。
「小時候喜歡吃魚的人長大後往往會避免煮魚，」平野女士說︰「這是惡性循環。」 （法新社/翻譯︰賴美君）
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