this is how japanese school food is made
in japan
so i'm back with another made in japan
video before i showed you how train
bentos were made but this time we're
gonna go inside of a factory so i can
show you how kids school food is made
but before we start like always if you
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discord community that said i've always
been interested to see how all of this
was done so let me just take you inside
and let's find out
so here i am bringing you another made
in japan hitter where i uncover how
things are uniquely crafted in japan
this time how real deal japanese school
lunches are made called kyushoku it's
served in all japanese elementary
schools and most junior high schools
it's known for its well-balanced and
varied menus all planned by a certified
nutritionist
okay so we've been here before you know
what's gonna happen let's do this
and there you go let's go inside
so i'm just in the entrance right here
and i think we've done this enough time
so maybe you can just follow one of the
workers in we're going big on this one
today i've got special access to visit
the musashino city school lunch and
dietary education promotion foundation
damn that was long servicing 18 schools
in total with 181 hard-working staff i'm
going inside to one of their massive
japanese school food kitchens so large
in scale i want to call it a food
factory to better capture its size it's
so massive that it produces food for
eight different schools each and every
day this ain't no regular school
cafeteria kitchen
oh the deliveries are here so morning
start at 7 30 a.m as the food must be
prepared cooked and then shipped out all
before lunch time ready to eat for eight
different schools with a total of 2 700
students workers use a special docking
room to receive the food where only one
door is opened at a time in order to
minimize outside debris from entering
the facility
once inside workers thoroughly inspect
the food by taking its temperature in
addition to paying attention to strict
government sanitary guidelines
oh cool let's see what this guy's doing
over here excuse me can i talk to you
what are you checking
out
[Music]
today's school lunch main dish is a
teriyaki yellowtail fish can't wait to
see how it's prepared
so this is where all of the food prep
begins after delivery vegetables must be
washed cut and peeled in addition to any
other specific prep unique to japanese
ingredients and since japanese school
lunches are rich with vegetables it
takes a fair amount of skilled hands to
get the job done about 40 total i mean
80 if i were counting both hands
anyway rude vegetables like burdock
naturally come in with lots of dirt and
grit so the kitchen uses specialized
machines to wash them off but the
majority of the vegetables are prepared
by hand at this kitchen all the
vegetables are sourced from local
farmers so the kids can eat the freshest
produce possible every day which is why
some are still sporting that farm fresh
soil all in all it means that japanese
school kids can enjoy fresh seasonal
food throughout the entire school year
in fact it's all a part of japan's food
education system which they even have a
word for jokuiku see in japan lunchtime
itself is considered food education as
opposed to a simple break between
classes japanese believe that providing
their youth a balanced and delicious
meal every day at lunch naturally
teaches them good eating habits and what
they should be eating outside of school
no matter the family's income level
every student is guaranteed one healthy
and balanced meal once per day
oh damn it's an apple convention in here
sweet juices they even have a full on
apple peeler to help them minimize the
prep time
once peeled the apple still needs that
personal touch to get finished off
finally the apple slices are placed into
containers ready to be served how do you
like them apples
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continue on let's see what they're doing
in this room over here
[Music]
so this is where they steam the rice wow
so many giant rice cookers apparently
each giant pot can cook up to 700
servings of rice at one time and that
colander filled with rice and weighs
about 30 kilos 66 pounds that's quite a
workout every day
so after the rice has been soaked it
goes into a vat of boiling hot water
[Music]
then after it's cooled for 2 minutes the
lid is quickly opened the rice is
stirred and the lid replaced to let cook
for 30 minutes absolutely making sure to
not open the lid until then to maintain
a high temperature
let's go ask some questions over here
hi what are you doing right now
oh what kind of rice do you use
what's the most challenging thing when
cooking this much rice
cool the rice is finished
damn they really go gravedigger style on
that rice apparently the workers say
it's pretty exhausting to scoop it all
out but i guess it's all worth it
because surprise surprise it's the most
served carbon japanese school lunches
over bread and noodles
and each container needs to be weighed
precisely to serve the exact number of
students for each class in each school
it's definitely a team effort to work
fast and efficiently to get it all ready
by lunchtime
so this looks like the main kitchen area
now the workers prepared the dashi for
the soup called tonjiri as well as for
other dishes and it's one of the key
ingredients for many japanese dishes and
here they're making it from scratch
using kombu and katsuobushi kelp and
smoked and fermented skipjack tuna
tonjito itself is basically a
traditional japanese soup with
vegetables tofu and pork it requires a
lot of different vegetable ingredients
hence the team of workers cutting an
assortment of vegetables there's quite a
bit of nutrition and a lot of love goes
into just one bowl of tonjiro
[Music]
oh cool i think there's some miso action
going on over here
okay now we're cooking for today's soup
the workers are using two types of miso
white and red the combination called
awase miso in japanese which complement
each other's flavors and creates a
deeper umami taste
once all the meat soup vegetables and
other ingredients have been separately
prepared they're all mixed together for
the final
cooking damn that's more ingredients
than i eat in a week
[Music]
so i guess this area is where they
prepare the grilled fish time for that
main dish hitter at this japanese school
kitchen the fish are marinated by hand
and today into a teriyaki sauce
once fully marinated it's trayed and
moved to the giant ovens to be grilled
each oven capable of cooking up to 100
pieces at one time damn that's efficient
[Music]
hey he's eating on the job what are you
doing
what
but to be honest have you gained weight
doing this
so what do you like most about this job
and what's your favorite menu item
cool thanks
apparently not just the fish's taste
test but every single dish that's going
out to the 2700 kids must be checked
before packing to ensure its taste and
[Music]
quality oh i think she's preparing a
traditional japanese side dish more of
the chopped vegetables prepared earlier
are now going to be cooked and like all
the dishes a day the workers must follow
the recipe precisely in order to produce
a consistent taste and quality that's
quite a lot of recipes considering the
main menu changes every day plus the
kitchen creates one to two new menu
items every month so the kids don't get
tired of the food
hi what's that
is there anything difficult about
cooking at this scale
what's your favorite dish on the menu
why don't
interestingly the most popular dish
among the school kids is their curry
rice makes me want to try it myself
by the way the metal containers used to
transfer the food are so thick that the
food is still hot when it's served to
the kids at school
okay so this is where they load all the
food that's been prepared
[Music]
now the food carts are loaded onto the
trucks with the delivery scheduled to
arrive at the school between 10 30 to 11
30. just in time for lunch
[Music]
and there you go all the food is packed
up and the trucks are leaving now and
this entire food education system is
supported by the japanese government
meaning that on average the monthly
school lunch fee paid by parents at
public schools is about 4 300 yen at
elementary schools and 4 900 yen at
junior high schools about 33 to 38 u.s
dollars a month
and here we go lunch is served let me
try a quick bite
that is amazing so there you go that is
how school food is made in japan if you
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