Bacon, Eggplant & Spicy Tomato Sauce Pasta

I want to eliminate food loss and promote local products.

Loaded with chunks of over-sized eggplant from Yamanashi Prefecture, Bacon, Eggplant & Spicy Tomato Sauce Pasta was sold exclusively in Nagano and Yamanashi prefectures during the summer of 2022. The easy-to-eat, spicy tomato sauce with a hint of red chili pepper and garlic was perfect for summer. Coating the chopped, deep-fried eggplant with the spicy sauce created a sense of unity with the pasta. And fragrant baked strips of bacon sprinkled around the hunks of eggplant gave the pasta a chunky flavor.

We spoke to Mr. S to share his thoughts as the developer of Bacon, Eggplant & Spicy Tomato Sauce Pasta.

――Tell us about what led you to develop Tomato Sauce Pasta.

One of our wholesale business partners from Yamanashi prefecture approached us about farmers finding it difficult to sell off the huge number of large or damaged eggplant that are grown from summer to fall because they fall outside the standards. I felt it was a waste that produce grown with such care might be thrown away, and I wanted to help out in some way, which led to the development of Tomato Sauce Pasta.

As long as there is no issue with quality, even eggplant that is not up to standard is useable because it can be included after processing in a plant. Another advantage is that the cost of these eggplants is lower than that of regular eggplant, although they do require more work to process. So, using these would create a win-win situation for everyone, including the farmers, ourselves, and our customers. During 2022, we ultimately offered five products made with eggplant that were scheduled for disposal, the first of which was Tomato Sauce Pasta.

――What demographic typically purchases Tomato Sauce Pasta?

It is widely purchased by both men and women. Recently, local newspapers and online news sites have reported these products more widely, so they are now being picked up by a broader audience.

Our processing plants have also directly received inquiries about how long these eggplant products will be on sale. In the Nagano and Yamanashi areas, I hope that these eggplant products become something that everyone looks forward to each year on their store shelves.

――Tell us about the aspirations you placed on Tomato Sauce Pasta?

At the beginning of development, I think our emphasis was on using vegetables grown in Nagano or Yamanashi prefectures. Now, however, we place our emphasis on choosing local vegetables because they are of good quality, and on informing our customers that we are using local vegetables effectively.

We are constantly aware of delivering delicious products to our customers, all while helping to eliminate food loss by supporting contributions to local communities via local production and consumption.

――How did you actually feel when Tomato Sauce Pasta became a reality?

I remember that using unsorted and non-standard-sized eggplant required a lot of extra work, including peeling away damage with a peeler and removing gouged sections, and that many parts of these processes were difficult to coordinate with the processing plants. It took a lot of work, but I think we were able to create a chunky flavor that cannot be imitated otherwise.

――What efforts did you make as a company to provide reasonably-priced products, especially in the face of soaring ingredient costs?

We were of course affected by the higher price of wheat used in the pasta Despite these circumstances, Tomato Sauce Pasta has become a product worth more than its price due to our additional efforts to keep costs down even while using excellent ingredients.
 

Various items are becoming more expensive, yet we believe that making these efforts does more than just keep costs down, it also allows us to provide high-quality, delicious products.