WE VEGETABLE Brand 1st Anniversary Event Held

Ishii Food Co., Ltd. (Headquarters: Funabashi, Chiba; President: Tomoyasu Ishii) held a commemorative event for its D2C brand 'WE VEGETABLE' on Sunday, March 22, 2026, at the 'viridian' community house on the 1st floor of its headquarters. On the day of the event, supporters of WE VEGETABLE were invited to a public recording of the first special edition of the new content 'Wellness Journey'. It was an opportunity to directly convey the brand's passion that cannot be fully expressed online and the concept of wellness through food. The first public recording featured culinary expert and registered dietitian Akari Hasegawa and Ishii Food's President Tomoyasu Ishii. Saori Kira, editor-in-chief of the magazine 'veggy', served as the MC. A talk session on the theme of food and wellness, daily eating habits, and soup arrangements was held, wrapping the venue in a harmonious atmosphere throughout. The recording was released on the official YouTube channel on April 13.

[YouTube Link]
https://youtu.be/9a4BDCUOSWI

Part 1 Talk Session
In the first part of the 1st anniversary event, a talk session was held as a public recording of the first special edition of 'Wellness Journey', inviting Akari Hasegawa and Tomoyasu Ishii as guests.
Reflecting on her past, Ms. Hasegawa shared her trigger for paying attention to food and health: 'I worked as a child actor since childhood, and in high school, I auditioned almost every day and kept failing. I felt like 'maybe I am no longer needed', my mood dropped significantly, and there was a period when I couldn't eat much.' At that timing, she said, 'I happened to find a recipe book at a bookstore, and as I turned the pages, even without an appetite, I thought 'I might want to eat this', and my senses gradually returned.'
She continued, 'When I actually cooked and ate the recipes from there, I felt 'I can cook such delicious food myself', and I suddenly loved cooking.' She revealed her motivation to become a culinary expert and dietitian: 'By making meals with my own hands and fulfilling myself, I felt my mind and body gradually recovering.'
The new project 'Wellness Journey', which held this public recording, is content that focuses on the dietary habits and lifestyles of guests, unraveling their 'turning points' in caring about food and health through their life timelines, and delivering hints that can be applied to daily life. As an initiative embodying the brand's desire to support food and health, it plans to disseminate information on health and food primarily on YouTube as a serialized content series.
President Ishii reflected on his past relationship with food, 'When I originally worked as an engineer in the IT industry, honestly I didn't care about food at all and ate out almost every day.' He revealed, 'The big turning point was when my wife's illness was discovered after we got married.' Triggered by that, he said looking back on his experience, 'I felt 'I can't go on like this', so I reviewed lifestyle habits like exercise, sleep, and diet, and started changing how I deal with stress.' President Ishii also noted, 'However, the most difficult thing when I tried was 'food'.' He added, 'I didn't know what to choose, how to make it, and it took time and effort. I couldn't even choose what I used to buy normally, and I realized 'facing food is this hard'.' He shared an episode overlapping with how, after experiencing that and becoming president, Ishii Food is now a company particular about food and health.
The talk session, where guests shared what triggered their awareness of food and health from their respective perspectives and what they value in their lifestyles, provided a venue to share hints with attendees to review and improve their daily lifestyles.
Furthermore, they introduced 'quick addition arrangements', which is one of the features of WE VEGETABLE.
Ms. Hasegawa mentioned, 'Because WE VEGETABLE has a natural taste that makes the most of the ingredients, you can adjust it to your liking without forcing too much flavor.'