Easy Macrobiotic at the Convenience Store – Interview with Morinaga Macrobi-ha Biscuits!

Have you heard about the Macrobi-ha Biscuits from Morinaga & CO., Ltd.?

The TV commercial with Tsubasa Honda and the cute squirrel, Macrobi-chan, has been the talk of the town.

The biscuits are carefully made following the macrobiotic principles – using only healthy ingredients without the use of animal-based foods and refined sugar.

This may very well be the only macrobiotic snack available in convenience stores nation wide.

We spoke with Hatae-san from the Marketing Department at Morinaga & Co., Ltd. about the background of Macrobi-ha Biscuits!

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Please tell us how Macrobi-ha Biscuits came about.

We developed this snack because we especially wanted the people who keep busy everyday to have a taste of the inherent nutrients and goodness of the ingredients.

Macrobiotic eating is a health method based on a Japanese diet with a focus on harmonizing with nature through ideas such as local consumption and whole foods.

However, it is not easy to maintain the stoicism to follow the practice.

The biscuits were created using only macrobiotic ingredients to allow for people to consider a healthy method of eating by incorporating it into their snack time.

Did you come across any difficulties during product development?

The biggest challenges were selecting the ingredients that adhered to the macrobiotic principle as well as creating the right taste.

It was the first time for us to make a product without the use of eggs, butter, and dairy, which are all common ingredients for making biscuits.

Although we were able to utilize our techniques, it was a completely new type of element to develop.

We didn’t want to compromise the taste just because the ingredients were limited, so we made samples after samples.

How has the Macrobi-ha Biscuits been received?

Thanks to the support, we’ve had a positive response. It seems there are many women who snack on them during breaks at work.

We’ve also had some feedback from consumers who resonate with our careful selection of ingredients such as a mother who shares the biscuit with her small child,

or a male customer in his 40s to 50s who have begun to have some concerns after receiving the results from a health checkup.

I’ve come to realize that there are more people – in various age groups with diverse lifestyles – than I had assumed who are selective about the ingredients and who prefer natural tasting foods.

Please tell us where you want to go in the future.

We’d like for Macrobi-ha to gain more recognition.

Our goal is for Macrobi-ha to become a part of our customers’ lifestyle and we’d like them to enjoy the biscuits even more as a result of our continued pursuit to improve the quality of our products every day.

Please tell us about how Morinaga feels about health products and what we can expect from the company in the future

Our company philosophy is “Delicious, Fun, and Healthy,” and therefore, we put much of our efforts into the development of health foods to reflect this vision.

We feel that it is important to not only offer safe and reliable products that suit the needs of each customer,

but also to provide user-friendly and captivating product designs and sales copies along with the necessary information to our customers.

We challenge ourselves every day to create products that assist in a fun and healthy lifestyle of the customer through snacks, not just with our other products like the “Weider in Jelly.”

Notes from the interviewer

This interview was realized as a result of the writer’s long love of the Macrobi-ha Biscuits.

There are two flavors – plain and cacao – but it is advisable to try the plain flavor first.

The mild and natural sweetness of the beet sugar, the toasty aroma of the whole wheat, and the crunchy texture is very addicting. To top it off, the tangy cranberries are just perfect!

The Macrobi-ha Biscuits are made to bring out the full flavor of the ingredients. Do give it a try!

【Below is the product page of the Macrobi-ha Biscuits】
http://www.morinaga.co.jp/macrobiha/(Japanese only)

*The information contained in the article is as of the date when we interviewed and subject to change. We strongly recommend that you make an inquiry to the store prior to your visit.

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