Rice Cookers

Read the following article today, and I quite agree that the rice cooker somehow reflect the different cultures.

When I was in States many years ago, I started to know that rice cooker is really a great tool for cooking rice, because I didn't know how to cook rice at that time ( after several tries, I know how to master the cooking without the electrical rice cooker now, but I think the rice cooker cooks nicer).

I still remember at that time, I saw one small rice cooker of my friend C ( he is an American but crazed about Chinese cultures) who bought it from China. It was such nice thing for people living in dorm, where he could cook rice, noodles.... I was very jealous, but I couldn't have the channel to buy one!!

I can say in HK and Macau, most of the families should have the rice cookers at home, and when we visit the shops, we can see there are so many different kinds with several additional functions.

My rice cooker has several functions, but to be honest, I am just using the core function, just the basic, I think people are greedy, even though I know I only need to cook rice, but I still paid some extra money to get the marginal value, advantages of the products.

I remember that the rice cookers in the market were first made from Japan many years ago, but now most of the products here are made in China.

For quality, I think Japan's product is still the best, because when I was in Japan, I really had the incentive to buy myself a very nice rice-cooker, the quality is super fine, from the inside to the outside appreance!!!


飯煲「漂流」全球 煮出不同飯香 日學者撰書研全球化

(明報)2010年1月8日 星期五 05:10
【明報專訊】要選港人眼中的日本潮物，數盡一眾電子產品，飯煲肯定不入流，甚至歸類為母親恩物。然而，在過去半個世紀，有亞洲人的地方，就有它的存在，年產量更達數以百萬計，在新加坡、泰國及伊朗等落地生根，慰藉留落異鄉遊子的心。港大日本研究系助理教授中野嘉子近日撰書，打開各地飯煲鮮為人知的文化特色。

飯煲大王蒙民偉將樂聲牌飯煲銷往全球的故事，令人津津樂道。一個地球儀的支架，地球模型消失了，換上一個飯煲，成為中野嘉子的英文新書Where There Are Asians, There Are Rice Cookers——How "National" Went Global via Hong Kong的封面。

「一直想做一些日本產品如何影響生活文化的研究，有次我問了多個20歲至50歲的香港朋友，什麼日產貨品對他們生活非常重要時，答案並非Hello Kitty、壽司或魚生，是飯煲！」中野嘉子說，這個日產貨品重要性遠遠超出她的想像，故花了3年多研究，期間與蒙民偉兒子德揚先生多次晤談，體會到兩父子的企業家精神，如何實踐「think out of the box」，為各國用家需要度身訂做合適的飯煲。

蒙民偉設計 透明蓋蒸臘腸

1959年，首批登陸香港的電飯煲屬樂聲牌，只有24個，時至今天，中國製電飯煲品牌已取代日產品牌成為主流，06年全球賣出的電飯煲數量更達430萬。中野嘉子說，樂聲牌的香港飯煲跟日本的最大分別，是前者蓋面透明，後者則密封，「蒙民偉了解中國人喜愛蒸臘腸，若飯煲蓋密封，就不知米飯何時煮熟何時放臘腸！是故向該公司高層反映意見，經過改良，便成為經典設計。」

伊朗愛閃亮飯煲當裝飾

樂聲牌電飯煲於1959年價值4500日圓，相等於當地普通人的半個月人工，是身分象徵，這觀念在伊朗一直沒變，當地的飯煲外表亮麗，銀光閃閃，原來伊朗人習慣把它放在客廳，是電器也是裝飾。

中野嘉子表示，蒙民偉為了解伊朗市場需求，不得不找女性用家意見，但伊朗女性不會跟陌生男子溝通，他經多次打聽，最後在日本找到一位願意試用產品的伊朗女性，「蒙先生請她試用產品，給予建議，經多次改良才敢推出市面，注重客人需要，為產品更能貼近市場脈搏。」當產品進軍泰國時，這品牌又參照當地人愛創新的口味，產品新增焗蛋糕功能，結果俘虜當地用家肚皮。

飯煲除了煲出香軟白飯，亦是時代見證。1990年代，香港移民潮興起，增加煲粥功能的西施電飯煲出現，成為移民家庭的必備物品。中野嘉子說︰「對日本人來說，以古代人物西施命名於飯煲，真夠另類的，但蒙民偉看準西施漂亮形象，成功將她跟產品結合，令品牌升格為高檔次。」

意國西班牙市場打不進

然而，產品看似風行全球，但仍有一些市場是進不了的，那就是意大行、西班牙及巴西。中野嘉子解釋，這些國家飲食文化不流行吃米飯，即使是西班牙焗飯，也非電飯煲能輕易煮出。

明報記者 彭碧珊
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