One of the most popular cheap dishes among Japanese home cooks is no longer as cheap as it used to be.

Curry Rice is one of the absolute all-stars of Japanese cuisine and has earned this status by not only being good for your taste buds, but also for your wallet. If you’re looking to save money, you can easily make a big pot of curry roux with various vegetables and meat to have a few filling, nourishing meals for the next few days without spending a lot of money on ingredients.

But the budget-friendliness of curry rice has decreased recentlyAccording to a study by the Economic Trend Research Institute Teikoku databaseBased on retail price statistics published by the Japanese Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, Teikoku calculated that The cost of cooking curry rice at home recently rose to its highest price in 10 years.

The costs for six ingredients were included in the calculation: Rice, curry roux (half a block for a serving for one person), carrots, potatoes, imported beef and cooking oilThe study also took into account the cost of water and electricity for cooking rice in a rice cooker, but did not appear to have factored in the gas/electricity costs for cooking the roux, vegetables and meat.

Based on retail statistics for the Tokyo area from June, the researchers came to 329 yens (US$2.22) as the cost of cooking one serving of curry rice for one person, a 10% increase compared to the cost of the same ingredients/benefits in June 2023broken down as follows:

● Meat and vegetables: 203 yen (20 yen more than prices in June 2023)
● Rice: 97 yen (8 yen more than in June 2023
● Curry roux: 25 yen (1 yen more than in June 2023)
● Water/electricity: 4 yen (same as June 2023)

So what is behind these rising prices? For meat, the weak yen is largely to blame. For decades, domestic Japanese beef producers have focused on producing high-priced meat, meaning imported beef is a more affordable alternative. The weak yen means buyers in Japan have to pay more for this imported beef, while Japanese beef has not come down in price at all and is still too expensive for most home cooks to use on a regular basis. For rice, on the other hand, Japanese buyers predominantly buy from domestic producers, but the high temperatures in Japan during last year’s rice-growing season led to lower yields, which in turn led to higher prices.

Because of its popular taste and the fact that it’s easy to make large batches at once and reheat leftovers, curry rice is especially popular with families with children and single people living alone who don’t have time to cook every day. While a 30 yen increase in the per capita price of curry rice from 299 to 329 yen may not seem like much in isolation, that 10 percent price increase can have a big impact when it comes to something that goes towards several meals each month in a typical Japanese household. Teikoku Data Bank expects an even higher price increase to around 340 yen when figures are finalized for July.

Source: Mainichi Shimbun via Livedoor News about Jin
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