https://www.tes.com/lessons/hetCPtgBCuMx8g/japan-cultures
Peter Menzel’s Hungry Planet depicts the various dietary and health lifestyles choices from various families around the globe. The Western diet, generally consisting of red meats, refined grains, processed foods, high fat and sugar content, as well as large food chains such as McDonalds have become popular making its way to countries like Japan, but not so much in countries like Ecuador. Processed foods have taken the place of many traditional foods primarily because of their cheap production cost, storability, increased shelf life, and convenience in both transportation and meal preparation (Lesson 1, Lecture 2: U.S. Food Policy and Nutritionism). It is evident that due to the busy, fast paced work life of many Japanese people, there is a need for quick easy-to-serve convenient meals so fast food industries have taken advantage of the huge market for cheap food products in places like Japan. There is also little room for agriculture development
http://www.21food.com/product/search_keys-instant+foods_c-Japan_cat-1022.html
Unlike Japan, Ecuador has relatively undeveloped fertile land to grow crops and allow animals to graze sustainably, which allows for the total food supply chain to be direct and short. Most food in Ecuador is prepared in a very traditional earthen kitchen and is sourced from fresh, local farms. Many of the packaged food sources in Japan come from far away and end up in large supermarkets being the primary food distributor in the Japanese cities. While supermarkets provide the modern convenience of being able to select a large variety of different foods from one location, many of the ingredients must be sourced from other places. The presence of supermarkets in Ecuador are beginning to appear, but are still scarce.
The over-liberalization of trade policies and international trade tariffs have resulted in the rapid transfer of products and influence globally including creating opportunities for fast food corporations and other food giants to grow into trans-national corporations. Modern day convenience seen in places like Japan are driven largely by globalization and its push towards prosperity through open markets and free trade policies can be produce some of the differences seen between Japan and Ecuador.
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