Taste This: Adventures in Baby Food

Stroll through the baby food aisle of a Japanese grocery store and you’ll see some of the same processed foods that Americans serve their babies: strained apples, banana pudding and pureed sweet potato. Take a closer look and you’ll find a colorful smorgasbord of jars with pictorial lists of ingredients. A jar of codfish and mashed potatoes sits next to a serving of steamed egg with vegetables. Babies can wash it down with genmaicha (brown rice tea).

Mass produced baby food is a relatively new concept in Japan. Packaged in convenient pouches, the dairy company, Meiji, exposes little ones to a “repertoire of flavors,” according to the foodmaker’s website. With a focus on nutrition, mothers “can experience a variety of well-balanced flavor, not a fussy baby” as they “teach the joy of eating. “

One of Meiji’s most popular items is a baby curry that contains potatoes, carrots, apples and pineapple. Other items include a salmon and vegetable noodle stew made from three types of salmon using the flavor of kelp. Creamy tuna spaghetti and sweet and sour pickled pork in a mild sauce with onions doesn’t seem scary. But the jar labeled “horsemeat with vegetables” caused a double-take. The same can be said of the fried rice with baby sardines.

Another popular brand, Kewpie, produces children’s snacks. Instead of Cheerios, a mother could offer sweet potato bites or soft rice and seaweed crackers.

Despite the variety of flavors, one food staple seemed to be missing: goya. I wonder when Okinawa children get their first taste of the island’s bitter melon.