Vegan bowl launched at FamilyMart in Tokyo

FamilyMart is the second largest convenience store chain in Japan with 16,611 stores all over the country (as of February 29, 2020). On March 17, they launched a vegan bowl called “Veggie Burg-don” in about 2,400 stores in Tokyo. According to their website, the patty is made by combining soy meat of difference sizes and shapes and is flavored with roast onion. The sauce is made from wheat flour roasted with plant oil and vegetables such as tomato, mushroom, onion, and carrot to add a rich taste. The package bears a vegan recommendation mark from the Japan Vegetarian Society. If you visit the society’s website (http://www.jpvs.org/), you can see the picture of Viggie Burg-don on the left side of the page.

The price is 498 yen (with the tax), which is the same as that of their beef bowl launched on the same day. In Japan, inexpensive beef bowls and other meat dishes are easily available in chain restaurants and stores, and I think this is one of the reasons why the vegetarian diet can’t attract attention from the general public. The price of Veggie Burg-don is reasonable compared with similar menu items of some vegetarian restaurants. I hope it will win popularity in Tokyo and will be sold also in provincial towns soon.