Gov't study group advocates chewing food 30 times

By Hajime Tobe

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as_the_crow_flies at 08:13 AM JST - 4th November

And as for the catchphrase, I think it would be a bit more catchy if they add Da-lin-gu Aimu to the Ka-min-gu 30. Not sure what the 30 adds to it, but this is Japlish after all.
kirakira25 at 09:15 AM JST - 4th November

@buggerlugs - I was thinking exactly the same thing. I thought everybody knew that "digestion starts in the mouth" etc etc. It`s common sense I thought. Ah! There! Now I get it!

If they start saying people should chew each mouthfull 30 times are they going to make it law that people have to take an hour for lunch??!

Even worse when it's hair-thinning otaku-types in their 30s who shovel and inhale, open-mouthed and dribbly lipped, like 7-year olds. Apart from putting me off my stroke, I often wonder how their nearly middle-aged tummies deal with treatment like that on a daily basis

You just described my husband!!! Well, he`s not so much an Otaku, but I can tell you exactly how his nearly middle-aged tummy is dealing with it - not well at all! Unfortunately, my kids are learning their eating habits from him, which is fine in Japan, but you should have seen the look on the face of the breakfast club teacher at primary school in the UK when my daughter picked up her bowl and sucked down the cereal and milk in it a la ramen-style! I was MORTIFIED!
gogogo at 11:11 AM JST - 4th November

I'm all for safety but how can you enjoy the food if you are counting in your head :)
Altria at 11:19 AM JST - 4th November

"Obsessive-compulsive gov't study group advocates chewing food 30 times, eating with left hand"

On a more serious note, I hope they're going to get tough on this issue by banning the 5-min salaryman food inhalation stations.

Better digestion might help the chronic bad breath problem too.
DarkKnghtZ at 01:42 PM JST - 4th November

My grandmother told me this, oh..... 25+ years ago. Are these idiots in office in a time warp or something? All of their "new studies" seem to center around stuff the rest of the world knew 10-15+ years ago.
Pukey2 at 07:23 PM JST - 4th November

This is just common sense. Some may complain about this childish advice, but when most people need to be spoon-fed information, there's no other way. What I also worry about is that Japanese jaws get weak quickly, because they don't eat hard stuff. They cut apples instead of biting into one, eat marshmallow-like bread and rice, and basically are just too lazy to eat anything that requires effort. Weaker jaws leads to teeth falling out.
combinibento at 08:08 PM JST - 4th November

I always thought anything above 30 chews was a waste of time. Nice to know I was right.
mrsynik at 10:32 PM JST - 4th November

This is my tax dollars at work? What a croc - How can I request a refund (or in this case a regurgitation)
InTheKnow at 07:52 PM JST - 5th November

30 times? Will the dumb ass who is proposing this please step forward. Put a piece of broccoli, a forkful of spaghetti or a normal-size piece of steak in your idiot mouth. Now start chewing. At about chew number 10-12 you'll have a revelation: "What am I doing?"

I don't need 30 chews to get an o-hashi load of rice down my gullet.
inakaRob at 11:22 AM JST - 6th November

i just chew once. sometimes not at all. just swallow all my food whole. I think before thay start recomending people to chew more, they should SLOW DOWN. They race at school lunch to eat as fast as humaninly possible. no time to chew, no time to enjoy this gathering of people. was eating with the teachers one day, and I was trying to eat at the same pace as them. Two teachers who sat down 3 minutes after the rest of us were still faster than me. I ate so fast I threw up. no really, just threw up.
sfjp330 at 11:41 AM JST - 6th November

Most of us chew our food an average of only seven times before swallowing. If we chewed each mouthful twenty – thirty times, our average caloric intake could be cut from more than 3000 per day to 2000. And we would feel full on less food. Chewing more allows digestion to begin in the mouth and prepares the entire digestive system.
Tahoochi at 03:32 PM JST - 6th November

Agreed with some posts above regarding people in Japan inhaling their food... including me! I used to chew my food a lot more before I came to Japan. Now, 6 years and 5kgs later, I end up inhaling most of my meals. It's a bad habit, but the salaryman life is not a healthy life. And no, I did NOT need a government study to tell me this.
Tahoochi at 03:36 PM JST - 6th November

sfip330: Thank you. Your information was a lot more useful than the article.
sakurasuki at 09:54 AM JST - 9th November

The govt interests and private sector interests are always heading in opposite direction.
idicemic at 03:37 PM JST - 11th November

Maybe this'll help reduce the "mochi mortality" rate; that is, get senior citizens to chew more before gagging on a chunk of New Year's mochi.