vol.3 [Mitsui Fudosan x Food Reformers] Food innovations” from the end of the Edo period to the Meiji period: Gen Z food culture researchers unravel the history and consider future food issues.

Food culture researcher Aya Ai Osanai (right) and Nobutaka Yoshida (left) of Mitsui Fudosan's Urban Development Promotion Department, Business Group.
&mog by Mitsui Fudosan is a one-stop platform that supports food business development, from concept design to urban implementation. The keyword for this project, which started in Nihonbashi this spring, is “Future food grown in the city.” Mitsui Fudosan is working with partner companies related to food to carry out a variety of activities to create new innovations. “&mog Kingdom” introduces monthly project events and the latest news. We will report on the new food trends starting in Nihonbashi!
“In the history of Japanese food, the biggest change occurred from the late Edo period to the early Meiji period. With the end of national isolation and the introduction of Western cuisine, everyday food changed dramatically. I opened this restaurant five years ago because I wanted to recreate what people were eating at that time.”
says Aya Ai Osanai, a food culture researcher. While a student at Keio University’s Faculty of Policy Studies, she established the restaurant “Shoku no Ai Nihonbashi” in Nihonbashi Muromachi as part of her research, serving modern Western-style lunches during the day and recreated dishes at night. The elements of deliciousness include not only the taste of the food itself, but also the background of the food producers and the story of the food itself. If you can hear and see these elements with your ears and eyes, you will be able to experience the deliciousness of the food even more. Shoku-no-kai Nihonbashi” was created as a place where visitors can experience reproduced dishes from the late Edo to Meiji periods, along with their stories.

Koruri, the first curry eaten by Japanese people, was recreated by Mr. Osanai based on documents from the Meiji era.

The word “Curry” is also found in the “Revised Hana-Ei Tongo” published by Yukichi Fukuzawa in 1860. The reprinted recipe is reproduced with reference to “Seiyo Ryori Tsu” (written by Ruben Kanagaki in 1872) and “Seiyo Ryori Shinan” (written by Master Keigakudo in 1872).
Mr. Osanai has also been an ambassador for “&mog by MitsuiFudosan” since 2023. Mr. Nobutaka Yoshida, one of the leading members of “&mog by MitsuiFudosan” and a member of the Nihonbashi Machidukuri Promotion Department, describes his encounter with Mr. Osanai as follows.
Mr. Yoshida explains, “In the course of promoting a project aimed at food innovation, the cooperation of people actually involved in the food and beverage business became indispensable. Since the project is about food in general, it is not something that can be completed by talking among developers. It is meaningless unless the final output takes shape, such as serving meals to reach consumers or implementing it in restaurants. That is why we were looking for someone to cooperate with us, and we were able to connect with Mr. Osanai.”
Mr. Osanai’s research and contribution to food culture in Nihonbashi, the city of food, made him an ideal partner for “&mog by MitsuiFudosan. What made me most happy was that Mr. Osanai was a lover of Nihonbashi and an expert on its food history. We are also working to utilize new technology in existing industries and to create new value through innovation. His vision of “creating the future of food” overlapped with Mr. Osanai’s ideas. That was very reassuring,” said Yoshida.
One of the collaborations between Mr. Osanai and “&mog by Mitsui Fudosan,” which aims to create new value by unraveling the history of cuisine and reviving it in the modern age, is the provision of menus at restaurants. In response to development consultations from food manufacturers and trading companies, Mr. Osanai prepares prototypes in the kitchen of Shoku-no-kai Nihonbashi when actual cooking is required, and the members of the project taste them. On this particular day, a sample of an animal-free cod roe-like paste from Dietz Food Planning, a company that deals with plant-based alternative foods, was also being tasted. Mr. Yoshida laughs, “This place has become like our food research base, so to speak.
Nihonbashi is a very romantic place in terms of historical research on food culture because it originally started as the starting point of a highway. At that time, local specialties and local delicacies from all over Japan gathered in Edo and Nihonbashi. At that time, Edo had a larger population than large foreign cities such as Beijing and Paris. This is why a wide variety of ingredients were gathered and a mature food culture blossomed. Tempura, sushi, and soba (buckwheat noodles) come to mind when we think of Edo period cuisine. After these synonymous dishes were created, Western cuisine arrived and completely changed the Japanese diet, giving birth to the current food culture. We believe that the government intentionally introduced meat-based Western cuisine because the Japanese diet at that time lacked protein. That is why they were able to make such a drastic change. Today, we are also in a time of protein crisis, food loss, and various other food issues. The same kind of food transformation is needed there. We need to find a point where we can merge with food challenges along with enjoying rich food,” says Mr. Osanai.

Mr. Osanai believes that the history of food innovation from the end of the Edo period to the early Meiji period may hold hints for solving today’s food issues. At “&mog by Mitsui Fudosan,” he is responsible for developing menus using new ingredients.。

Fugaku Sanjurokkei Edo Nihonbashi (36 Views of Mt. Fuji, Edo Nihonbashi) by Katsushika Hokusai. Edo Castle and Mt. Fuji are depicted over the waterway where products gathered from all over the country are shipped back and forth.
In the current “&mog by MitsuiFudosan,” most of the support involves working together to create use cases for commercial products brought in by food product manufacturers. In the future, however, Mr. Yoshida hopes to take the involvement one step further. I think it would be more enjoyable if we could provide one-stop support for the product creation stage, from the business concept of a new idea all the way through to the final product,” he says. Many ideas are buried in the R&D departments of food manufacturers without even being considered for commercialization. That is why “&mog by MitsuiFudosan” is teaming up with them to explore whether there is an approach to quickly materialize and verify ideas and explore business possibilities. Shoku-no-kai Nihonbashi” and Mr. Osanai are indispensable for this purpose. Mr. Osanai is energetic and has his own ideas. He is very helpful because no matter what I throw at him, he throws it back at me. I can rely on him to discuss things with me,” says Mr. Yoshida.

Mentaiko pasta made with mentaiko-like paste (Dietzfoodplanlang), an animal-free, animal-free paste made from konjak, which is also served at “Shoku no Ai.”
On this day, Mr. Osanai made mentaiko pasta using plant-derived mentaiko-like paste.
We will continue to create channels and opportunities to bring these products to consumers through Shoku-no-kai Nihonbashi. As a preliminary step, we are thinking together about how to cook them to make them tasty. We are thinking together about how we can cook them to make them tasty,” Yoshida continues.
I think there is an assumption that alternative ingredients are not as tasty as the real thing. But crab kamaboko is a product that was created to replace crab, and it is delicious. Even ganmodoki, if you think about it, is an old alternative ingredient derived from plants. But we eat it because it tastes good. In this way, the concept of alternative ingredients has changed, and it is important that people want to eat and try them. New ingredients for food are much tastier by themselves, so if the concept can be overturned, food innovation can surely occur. I hope I can contribute to that.
As the world faces many food challenges, there is a need to rethink sustainable food culture anew. Therefore, Mr. Osanai believes it is imperative to secure environmentally friendly protein, and has launched a brand “kin-pun” that uses bacillus natto as a new protein ingredient.
Many people are supplementing their three daily meals with protein by consuming protein-preferred or functional foods. That is why we are researching how we can incorporate more protein into our daily cooking. At kin-pun, we are focusing on the rich protein content of the bacillus natto. By cultivating the bacillus natto and making it into a powder, it can be kneaded into bread or used as an emulsion in dressings, making it an easy way to obtain protein in a way that has never been done before. In addition, the natto bacillus requires very little land for production compared to grains. Furthermore, since it is not an agricultural crop, there is no need to worry about the spread of fertilizers. It is a protein that does not burden the earth during production.
From the Edo period (1603-1868), when meat eating was forbidden, to the Meiji period (1868-1912), when food innovation took place, Japan shifted to a diet based on meat as a protein source, as we know it today. Mr. Osanai concluded, “I believe that we should learn hints from history when thinking about current food problems and future food abundance.