Date of Issue: October 2021 Issue　　Category: Knowledge

Fruit Sandwiches Have Been Popular as Luxury Snacks in Japan Recently


Ginza Fruit Boon by Utsuwa


"Fruit Mix Sandwich"


"Honey Glow Pineapple Sandwich"


Fruit Box Daikanyama
Hi there everybody, I'm James Odaira again from Tokyo, Japan, And I would like to talk about fruit sandwich specialty shops that are booming here in Japan recently.

Fruit sandwiches have been popular as luxury snacks in Japan recently. Made with fresh fruit and whipped cream, they are so tasty, and when they are cut in half, the cross sections look so beautiful like the works of great masters of modern art.

Fruit sandwiches are literally sandwiches made with an assortment of fruit. Thinly sliced Japanese soft white bread known as shokupan goes very well with the filling of fresh fruit and whipped cream.

We covered 2 fruit sandwich specialty shops in the October issue of Boulansserie, our monthly bread magazine.

Ginza Fruit Boon by Utsuwa, a fruit sandwich specialty shop that opened in September last year, has developed fruit sandwiches with thorough attention to taste and quality, using high-grade fruits that were on the verge of being lost due to the decline in demand caused by the covid-19 pandemic.

"When we heard about the loss of high-grade fruit, we thought we could be of some help," says Mr. Akiyama, a member of the company's public relations staff.

In fact, the company had started a small-scale restaurant business in 2019, operating a specialty coffee shop in Mita, Tokyo and a banana juice shop in Okinawa.

The most popular products of Ginza Fruit Boon by Utsuwa are "Fruit Mix Sandwich" (745 yen including tax), which offers four kinds of fruits such as strawberry, banana, navel orange, and kiwi fruit in one piece, and "Honey Glow Pineapple Sandwich" (723 yen including tax), which contains a large honey glow pineapple reminiscent of a beehive. Also available for the autumn season are "Shine Muscat "(price varies according to market prices), "Nagano Purple"(972 yen including tax), and so on.

Fruit Box Daikanyama, a fruit sandwich specialty shop located in Daikanyama, Tokyo, a trendy spot for young people, offers fruit sandwiches with vivid cross sections that target young women. The shop sells fruit sandwiches at relatively reasonable prices, starting at 400 yen per piece, while paying thorough attention to quality, including the use of seasonal domestic fruits.

The shop sells about nine types of fruit sandwiches throughout the year, changing the fruits used depending on the season.

Fruit sandwiches are often featured on social media under the keyword of "moe-dan," which means being attracted by the food with a vivid cross-section, but the shop manager, Shintaro Nakayama, opened the shop in June 2019 with the aim of making fruit more accessible to recent young people, especially young women who are sensitive to trends and the mutual transmission of information.

"We want them to realize the appeal of various fruits by eating fruit sandwiches made with domestic seasonal fruits. That's why we offer fruit sandwiches at affordable prices that even young people can easily afford," says Nakayama.

As of the beginning of September, sandwiches using fruits that are in season in autumn, such as "Shine Muscat Sandwich" (463 yen excluding tax) and "Peach Sandwich" (417 yen excluding tax), are on sale.

The modestly sweet cream that covers the entire fruit is made in the shop every morning, and the bread is also selected and purchased so that it melts in the mouth and integrates well with the fruit and cream.

The recent fruit sandwich craze in Japan is a theme under which many shops make approaches to the realization of their social missions. As a result of the operation of a fruit sandwich shop, one shop contributes to solving the food loss issue, while another shop help young people realize the deliciousness of domestic fruits. And thus, the Japanese society will become more and more prosperous.

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