[Intro Music]

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

want to see what I'm doing on the daily

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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 2700 students

Workers use a special docking room to receive the food

where only one door is opened at a time

outside debris from entering the facility.

Once inside, workers thoroughly inspect the food by taking it's temperature, in addition to paying attention to strict government sanitary guidelines.

Oh cool, let's see what this guy is doing over here!

Excuse me, can I talk to you?

What are you checking?

Oh! What's the percentage of food that doesn't pass?

So, how long have you been working here?

So, do you have to do other jobs as well?

Which one do you like the most?

Thank you!

Today's school lunch main dish is a teriyaki yellow tail 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, root vegetables like burdock naturally come in with lots of dirt and grit,

so the kitchen uses specialised machines to wash them off

but, the majority of the vegetables are prepared by hand.

At this kitchen, all of 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!

See, in Japan, lunch time itself is considered food education

as supposed to a simple break between classes.

Japanese believe that providing the 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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all right let's 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 boiled 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 ?

Why is that ?

What's the most challenging thing

when cooking this much rice ?

So what the key then to making delicious 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 carb in 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 Tonjiru

as well as for other dishes as 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

Tonjiru 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 Tonjiru

[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 are you exactly checking for ?

What if you are not satisfied ?

Ah I see !

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 is taste tested

But every single dish that's going out to the 2700 kids

must be checked before packing to ensure its taste and quality

[Music]

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 ?

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 4300 yen at

elementary schools and 4900 yen at

junior high schools about 33 to 38 US $ a month

and here we go lunch is served