While Yoshinoya also has pork and chicken options on its menu, the ostrich venture through its subsidiary Speedia marks a major shift for the 125-year-old company. Now, Yoshinoya is also selling skincare products made using ostrich oil as a means to raise funds to secure more ostrich meat in the future.
The ostrich bowl menu has been discontinued for the time being, after all 60,000 bowls made available were snapped up despite costing 1,683 yen (S$15) each – or about three times that of a beef bowl.
The venture comes as beef prices soar. Japanese wholesale prices of frozen US beef belly used in gyudon were up 80 per cent on the year at 1,450 yen to 1,530 yen per kilogram, and Yoshinoya raised gyudon prices in July for the fourth consecutive year.
Meanwhile, supermarket shelves across Japan were also emptied of rice for weeks this summer, forcing retailers to set a purchase limit of one 5kg bag per family per day.
In May, an orange crisis stemming from shortages in Brazil – a major supplier that was reportedly affected by extreme weather and fruit tree disease – resulted in beverage manufacturers pausing their orange juice products.– resulted in beverage manufacturers pausing their orange juice products. Japan imports about 90 per cent of the oranges used for juices.
This followed a paucity of potatoes from 2021 to 2022 that led fast-food chains, which import potatoes, to restrict sales of French fries. Japanese potato chip manufacturer Calbee, which sources 90 per cent of its potatoes domestically, was also hit by a bad crop.
But the ongoing rice shortage in Japan, where more than 500 different varieties are grown, has hit hardest at home, given that it is a staple in the diets of most Japanese people.
Private-sector inventories were at their lowest level in June since comparable records began in 1999. And after accounting for supply to commercial eateries, there was insufficient to go around supermarkets and grocers, which found their shelves soon wiped clean of rice.
The staple is now slowly returning as autumn harvests begin – albeit at a noticeable premium. Prices have soared by as much as 50 per cent, and it is now not uncommon to find 5kg bags of domestically grown rice that cost above 3,000 yen.
Ninety-eight per cent of the rice consumed in Japan is home-grown, with the remainder imported and used almost entirely in foreign cuisine restaurants. Japan’s short-grain rice is used in everything from onigiri rice balls to bento meal boxes and sushi, and substituting it with longer-grain overseas rice is a non-starter.
This has been unnerving for many Japanese. A 31-year-old father of one, who wanted to be known only by his surname Nagase, told The Straits Times: “Rice is indispensable in our home, and the prospect of a future where even this is uncertain bothers me.”
Ostrich for dinner? Shaky beef supply, shortage of rice ram home Japan’s food security fears
