World’s longest-running cooking show is in Japan

The Japanese flag flutters over the Bank of Japan (BoJ) head office building (bottom) in Tokyo on April 27, 2022. (File photo from Agence France-Presse)

TOKYO — A 65-year-old cooking show in Japan has been recognized by Guinness World Records as the longest-running culinary program, broadcaster NHK said.

Since its inception in 1957, NHK’s “Kyo no Ryori,” or “Today’s Cooking,” has featured about 46,600 recipes, often reflecting the zeitgeist of the times from economic downturn to women’s empowerment.

Changing times

“‘What should I cook for dinner tonight?’ is, I think, the perpetual question for everyone,” chief producer Mayumi Yanai told reporters on Friday as a Guinness certificate was presented at a Tokyo ceremony.

The show aims to “answer that question sincerely and align itself closely to our family audience,” she said.

The cooking show mirrored the changing times, including Japan’s shrinking population and family size.

While it originally featured recipes for five people, a family of four later became the standard, before meals for two took over.

Its first episode in 1957 introduced Western-style curry with oysters, at a time when one in four Japanese people were said to struggle with malnourishment.

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The global oil crisis of the ’70s also influenced the show, which responded by coming up with an array of low-budget recipes for its audience in a financial bind.

In the ’80s, when more women began joining the workforce, the show shifted focus to meals that can be whipped up quickly, while also highlighting themes, such as “men’s dishes.”