Calbee: how snack foods company in post-nuclear Hiroshima became a global giant
- After Japanese city was destroyed by an atomic bomb, malnutrition was rife and Takashi Matsuo wanted to help feed his fellow citizens
- He named Calbee after the calcium and B1 in its first prawn crackers– things the starving citizens were lacking – and took them to the US
Even four years after being devastated by the atomic bomb, very little of the Japanese city of Hiroshima had been rebuilt. The main thoroughfares had been cleared and some basic infrastructure repaired, but most of the survivors – the orphans, elderly, repatriated soldiers – were living in little more than shacks built from debris and getting by on food handouts.
Takashi Matsuo was born in Hiroshima in 1912, and he was understandably horrified at what had become of his hometown and its people.
He was particularly affected by the shortage of nutritious food for those living among the rubble and the increasing number of people suffering from a lack of vitamins. Vegetables, fish, meat and dairy products were all in short supply, and beriberi and other malnutrition-related illnesses were becoming common.
Matsuo made it his mission to feed his city and in 1949 set up Matsuo Food Processing. His first product was called the Calbee Caramel. The word Calbee was significant to Matsuo because it combined the first three letters of the word “calcium” with B1, the vital vitamin so many people were lacking.
Six years later, the product had become so well known that Matsuo decided to change the name of his company to Calbee Foods and Confectionery, and the foundation was laid for what is today a global company – but one that still retains the founder’s stated commitment to “contribute to society by providing sweets that bring fun and good health to people”.
Many middle-aged domestic consumers are aware of the company’s roots, but are also drawn to Calbee products because they associate the snacks with happy memories from their childhood.