No Water, No Power, No Problem... The Essential "Emergency Food" for Survival [Delicious Stories]

Tokyo Distributes Salty Potato Chips During Disaster Drills
Oil, Carbohydrates, and Salt: Ideal in Emergency Situations
Snacks May Be Useful When Water and Heat Are Hard to Access During Disasters

Editor's NoteThe first confectioneries are believed to have been discovered in ancient Mesopotamian civilization. In other words, sweets have accompanied every moment of human history. From biscuits and chocolate to ice cream, we bring you delicious stories behind the snacks we love.

Japan, which is frequently exposed to natural disasters such as earthquakes and tsunamis, is known for its thorough disaster preparedness. Schools, workplaces, and households stock emergency food supplies, known as "disaster prevention food," in case they are isolated for several months. While most disaster prevention foods are retort pouch meals or canned goods that can be prepared with just water and heat, recently, snacks such as potato chips have also begun to be recognized as disaster prevention foods.

Disaster Prevention Food Recommended by Tokyo: "Salty Potato Chips"

After the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, there was a boom in "disaster prevention supplies" across Japan. Disaster prevention supplies refer to daily necessities and food with a shelf life of up to 25 years or more, prepared to ensure survival for at least several months in the event of sudden isolation due to a disaster.

An image of "Disaster Prevention Potato Chips" published in the Asahi Shimbun. It is a disaster prevention food developed in collaboration between Toa and Koikeya during the 2021 Tokyo disaster drill.

Disaster prevention foods also followed these standards, with dried foods and canned goods that could be preserved for up to 25 years becoming mainstream. However, the trend has been changing recently. There is now a practice of regularly replenishing emergency food kits with ordinary snacks that have a shelf life of five to six months, making them part of the disaster prevention food supply.

Major local governments also recommend preparing disaster prevention snacks. During a disaster drill in 2021, the Tokyo Metropolitan Government collaborated with Koikeya, a famous Japanese potato chip manufacturer, to create disaster prevention potato chips and distributed them to citizens. Since then, Koikeya has been producing separately packaged potato chips specifically for disaster prevention use and selling them on the market.

On January 1st last year (local time), a massive earthquake measuring 7.6 struck in Wajima city, Ishikawa Prefecture, central Honshu, Japan, causing one side of a large building in the city to collapse. When an earthquake occurs in the city center, there is a risk that water, electricity, and gas services could be simultaneously cut off. Photo by Yonhap News

The flavor of Koikeya's disaster prevention potato chips is also predetermined: their steady-selling "Seaweed Salt Potato Chips." These chips are seasoned with locally produced seaweed powder and rock salt. However, they were not chosen as disaster prevention food simply because they are popular. A research team from Tokyo Kasei University, at the request of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government, analyzed the ingredients of various snacks and proved that "potato chips containing potatoes, oil, and salt are the most efficient means of obtaining energy."

Potato chips also have an advantage over other snacks in terms of shelf life. The Tokyo Kasei University research team explained, "Disaster prevention food is a stockpile that is regularly consumed and replenished, so the shelf life must be at least six months. For this reason, potato chips were the most suitable choice."

Snacks Take Their Place Among Disaster Prevention Supplies: Easy Preparation and Efficient Calorie Intake

Chocolate red bean jelly by Imuraya, a Japanese yokan manufacturer. A glow-in-the-dark sticker with the character '備 (prepare Bi)' is attached to the packaging for easy identification even in the dark. Imuraya capture

Disaster prevention snacks are still evolving. Imuraya, a Japanese yokan manufacturer, succeeded in developing "chocolate red bean jelly" with a shelf life extended to five years and six months through repeated research. Since its release, over 30 million units of chocolate red bean jelly have been sold. Special attention was also paid to the packaging, which features a glow-in-the-dark character "備 (prepare Bi)" so it can be easily found even in dark places.

The famous Japanese biscuit "Bisco," a crumbly cookie with a sweet spread, has also been transformed into a disaster prevention food. Glico, the manufacturer of Bisco, sells Bisco stored in canned containers as a disaster prevention food, and its shelf life is more than 10 years.

The appearance of Bisco biscuits stored in a storage container. The shelf life is extended by more than 10 years. Screenshot from an online community

Why did Japan start including snacks in their disaster prevention food supplies? There are practical reasons behind this decision. Traditional disaster prevention foods have the advantage of a long shelf life and familiar textures similar to rice, soup, or bread, making them relatively easy to adapt to. However, preparing them requires water and heat. When an earthquake with a magnitude of around 7.0 to 9.0 strikes a city center, there is a high likelihood that water, electricity, and gas supplies will be cut off. In January 2024, when a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck the Noto Peninsula in Ishikawa Prefecture, Japan, about 40,000 households went without water for a month.

On this topic, Verojirasore, a Japanese disaster-related influencer and disaster prevention food review blogger, emphasized, "Disaster prevention food means 'portable food that can be eaten in any environment.' In other words, you have to assume situations where cooking is completely impossible or where even water must be conserved. That's why snacks that can be eaten immediately without any preparation and can supply nutrition are essential."