Why Japanese Children Choose Tomatoes over Potatoes

The simple household hobby which can change the way you like vegetables

Illustrations by Kaki Okumura

Which is most popular among Japanese children? A tomato, a potato, or a cob of corn?

If I had asked you between a tomato, white potato, and a cob of corn, what would you guess was the vegetable most popular among Japanese children?

Well, according to a survey conducted in 2020, when Japanese children (aged 12 and under, 214 kids) were asked which vegetables they liked, they ranked their favorite vegetable as the tomato, placing above both potatoes and corn.

Source: Takii K.K., translated by Kaki Okumura. Melons and watermelons are sometimes defined as vegetables due to their cultivation methods being similar to that of vegetables like cucumbers.

In fact, this wasn’t a surprising outcome — tomatoes ranked first for the 9th consecutive year among Japanese children.

A follow-up question which helps make this fact make sense

What was more curious about this survey is a question that followed after: they had also asked respondents that if they had grown vegetables in their household before, what kinds of vegetables they have had experience…