The Norwegian Embassy in Tokyo has launched a campaign to promote more salmon eating in Japan, where it is already a popular sushi topping.
Norway started a blitz to sell salmon for sushi to Japan under a national strategy in the 1980s, making it more popular than it already was at the time.
Raw salmon is a staple at conveyor-belt sushi restaurants and other eateries as well as at many retailers.
With salmon becoming comparable with tuna in popularity, the embassy’s fisheries department hit on the idea of boosting demand for salmon even more by promoting different methods on how to prepare it, including substituting cooked salmon in popular meat dishes.
The embassy has begun the promotional campaign, calling salmon the “fourth meat” after beef, pork and chicken.
As part of the project, the embassy has posted salmon recipes online and distributed flyers at supermarkets nationwide.
It is also offering a trip to Norway and Norwegian salmon fillets as prizes for pictures of cooked salmon posted on social media. Winners will be chosen by lottery.
In Japan, more meat is now consumed than fish. The embassy says it hopes that diversifying salmon cooking methods will lead to an increase in Japanese consumption of the fish.
