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Kyodo

Major Japanese fast-food chain operator Yoshinoya is hoping the introduction of ostrich meat will help it overcome shortages that have affected the availability of its popular beef bowls.
In late August, it made some 60,000 servings of ostrich meat rice bowls available at around 400 outlets in Japan at 1,683 yen (US$12) each, making the flightless bird its fourth meat option with supplies of beef, pork and chicken coming under pressure.
In a bid to secure more ostrich meat in the future, Yoshinoya said it will first raise the necessary funds through the expansion of sales of ostrich-derived skincare products developed by its wholly-owned subsidiary Speedia.
Speedia currently maintains a flock of 500 ostriches at a farm in Ibaraki prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, as part of its broader ostrich business that also includes research and product development.

Its cosmetics products are available on the company’s official website, as well as via other online retailers and chemist chains.
Data has shown that oil extracted from ostriches enhances absorption of beauty ingredients into people’s skin, Yoshinoya said.

According to the company, ostriches are relatively cost-effective to farm compared to other animals and have less of a negative impact on the environment.
“Yoshinoya’s operations have always been affected by the situation surrounding beef. To grow our business while protecting beef bowl operations, we need to diversify to reduce risk,” Yoshinoya president Yasutaka Kawamura said in August.


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Food and Drinks

Yoshinoya to expand ostrich skincare sales so it can serve more ostrich rice bowls

An ostrich version of a roast beef bowl served at a Yoshinoya restaurant in Japan. Photo: Instagram/@ryu_jiro

Speedia’s Glamorous Booster Oil is made with ostrich oil. The Yoshinoya subsidiary will grow sales to fund an expansion of its ostrich farm that supplies the parent company with ostrich meat to serve customers. Photo: Instagram/@speedia_cosme

Ostriches at the ranch of Yoshinoya beauty products subsidiary Speedia in Ibaraki prefecture, Japan. Photo: Instagram/@speedia_cosme

How beef satay noodles, comfort food with Southeast Asian roots, became a Hong Kong fave

Satay beef noodles served at a cafe in Pok Fu Lam. A popular breakfast dish in Hong Kong that combines Chinese and Southeast Asian cuisines, it was introduced to the city in the 1950s by migrants from Chaozhou, southern China. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Beef satay skewers. Hong Kong beef satay noodles can be traced to sate dishes of Southeast Asia. Photo: Shutterstock

Bing Kee, in Hong Kong’s Tai Hang neighbourhood, is one of the few surviving “cha dong” in the city. Photo: Edmond So

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A 10-year-old girl in Japan has passed a test that allows her to serve fugu, or pufferfish, a delicacy that can kill if improperly handled. It’s a test adult chefs often fail. Photo: Shutterstock

A member of staff at a restaurant in Beijing, China, holds a pufferfish. Also called fugu, it is a delicacy usually served raw that can kill if its poisonous parts are not properly removed. Photo: EPA-EFE

Why award-winning Taiwanese sake maker wants to share his ideas with Japan’s breweries

Award-winning Taiwanese sake maker Chiang Wei (right). After his Taiwan to go Sake No. 1 made history at France’s Kura Master contest, the Taipei bar operator says he wants to share perspectives with Japanese makers. Photo: Facebook/jiangwayne.com Sake Bar Jr.


Chiang (front, third from left) outside his sake bar in Taipei. Photo: Facebook / jiangwayne.com Sake Bar Jr.

Chiang’s Taiwan To Go Sake No. 1. Photo: Jiang Wayne

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A selection of dishes at Happy Garden, in Darwin, Australia. The Chinese restaurant is one of 10 featured in Chopsticks or Fork?, a cookbook of 32 food recipes from across the country that tell the stories of the Chinese-Australians behind them. Photo: Jennifer Wong

Lin Jie Kong (left) and Jennifer Wong, the authors of Chopsticks or Fork?, a collection of stories and recipes from Chinese restaurants in regional Australia. Photo: Jennifer Wong

One of the restaurants featured in Chopsticks or Fork? is T’s in Sheffield, Tasmania, where Hong Kong-born Alex Zhao – pictured with his wife, Sammi – runs the country’s only paddock-to-plate Chinese restaurant. Photo: Lin Jie Kong

Cumin-spiced lamb with hand-pulled noodles at T’s. Photo: Lin Jie Kong

Raymond Ng with wife, Susie, and daughter Emily at his restaurant Raymond’s at Malua Bay. Photo: Jennifer Wong

The honey prawns at Raymond’s at Malua Bay are an example of Chinese food adapted for a Western palate. Photo: Lin Jie Kong

Leon Toy cooks using a wok at Toy’s Garden Restaurant, in Horsham, Victoria. Photo: Jennifer Wong

Gavin Chan, the third-generation operator of Happy’s, in Canberra. Photo: Lin Jie Kong

The entrance to Happy’s Chinese restaurant. Photo: Lin Jie Kong

Wong (left) and Kong also celebrate nostalgic items found in Chinese restaurants, such as serviettes in wine glasses, rose-shaped carrot garnishes, lucky Maneki-neko cats, bamboo plants and goldfish bowls, in their book. Photo: Jennifer Wong 

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Char kway teow at Oriental Palace in Hervey Bay, Queensland. Photo: Lin Jie Kong

Lifestyle

Food & Drink

Fashion & Beauty

Fast food chain’s skincare subsidiary farms ostriches for beauty products, while it uses their meat. Yoshinoya aims to expand sales of both


Fast food chain’s skincare subsidiary farms ostriches for beauty products, while it uses their meat. Yoshinoya aims to expand sales of both.


Beauty

Japan

Food and agriculture