From April 21st-23rd 2021, Tokyo Big Sight’s Aomi Exhibition Halls A, B hosted the Premium Food Show.

The Premium Food Show gathers attention for being at the forefront of food trends, and this time around, whilst taking great precautions for Covid, it hosted special areas for vegetarian, vegan, Halal, gluten free, and organic products and ingredients, signaling a shift to a new era of diversifying needs.

VegeProject co-hosted a booth with world-class animal protection organization Human Society International (HSI) from the U.S., where we presented our current activities, as well as the connection between SDGs and vegan choices. With those that were learning about vegan choices for the first time, we were able to have conversations introducing the benefits of these choices, and with others who had were acknowledge in the concept or who were presenting vegan products themselves, we were able to have rewarding and deep conversations about where to take the market from here. We also heard from many that they were inspired to undertake plant-based solutions in their respective fields.

VegeProject Director Kawano and HSI Food Policy Manager Trang Dang also gave presentations for the seminar “The growth of the vegetarian and vegan market and introduction to plant-based solutions,” which was registered at twice the full capacity, indicating a strong industry interest in the subject. Post-seminar feedback also indicated many companies who were interested in using VegeProject and HSI’s services to help shift to being more plant-based.

Seeing the Premium Food Show’s largest yet gathering of vegetarian and vegan-related products and companies, one cannot help but feel that this is a trend that is ever growing and here to stay.

The world is taking notice of the benefits of vegan lifestyles–not just the benefits to individual health, but in light of the climate crisis, as well as food security. Here in Japan, there is no mistaking the expansion of the plant-based market. Big players, many of whom we are honored to count among our partners, are expanding this field. According to TBS news, the domestic market for soy meat is projected to grow to 70 billion yen by 2030. VegeProject will continue to support the development of vegan options in Japan, and put out information on this progress.