The Nagoya-meshi Promotion Council created a booklet and held the “Nagoya-meshi Food Diversity Seminar” to promote food diversity in Nagoya’s local specialty cuisine, often referred to as “Nagoya-meshi.” For the creation of the booklet, VegeProject Japan supervised the sections related to vegetarian and vegan meals. At the seminar held on January 30, 2025, our representative, Haruko Kawano, participated as a speaker, providing expertise on vegetarian and vegan matters.
At the seminar, knowledge was shared on how to offer Nagoya-meshi dishes such as “miso katsu” and “kishimen” in vegan and halal versions, allowing travelers with diverse dietary needs to enjoy them. On the day of the event, restaurant and accommodation business operators from Aichi Prefecture participated free of charge.
The lecture was conducted in three parts.
Part 1: Learn the Basics of Muslim Inbound Tourism and Corresponding Practices Tomohiro Sakuma (Representative Director, Halal Japan Association)
Part 2: Expanding “Nagoya-meshi” to Include Vegetarian and Vegan Options
Haruko Kawano (Representative Director, NPO VegeProject Japan)
Part 3: Case Studies and Outcomes of Food Diversity Practices
Hironori Aoki (Senior Managing Director, Yamamotoya Co., Ltd.)
In Part 2, Kawano shared case studies to show that accommodating vegetarians and vegans is not necessarily difficult. She also emphasized that vegetarian and vegan options can appeal not only to foreign tourists and health-conscious individuals but also to a broader customer base. She discussed the significance of offering such options and introduced explanations of terms like vegetarian, vegan, and plant-based, the related markets, key points to keep in mind when implementing these practices, and useful ingredients.
To help businesses better envision how to accommodate vegetarians and vegans, a variety of vegan ingredients—mainly those with Vegan Certification—were also displayed. These included samples of “miso katsu” made with vegan-style cutlets, as well as plant-based alternatives like ham, white sauce, demi-glace sauce, soup stock, and more—ingredients that can be used in Nagoya-meshi.
Prior to the seminar, VegeProject Japan supervised the vegetarian and vegan content of the “Nagoya-meshi” Food Diversity Manual that was created.
Video recordings of the seminar lectures and this manual are available on the official Nagoya-meshi Promotion Council website.
This seminar was also later featured on Area LOVE Walker.