Tokyo bento shop giving away 2,205 pounds of free food to help negi farmers

Kitchen Dive continues to be the most generous bento boxed lunch shop in Japan.

We’ve talked before about the shockingly large portions and amazingly low prices of Kitchen Dive, a bento boxed lunch takeout shop in Tokyo’s Kameido neighborhood. This Saturday, though, Dive is doing something pretty incredible even by its own standards. It’s giving out free food.

Here’s where things get really impressive, though. The offer isn’t just a gesture of generosity to Kitchen Dive’s customers, but also to Japanese farmers.

It came to the attention of the owners of Dive that some farmers growing negi (long green onions) were having trouble finding buyers for their crops, and so Kitchen Dive stepped in and bought them.

▼ Negi

So how much negi did Dive buy? A full metric ton, 1,000 kilos (2,205 pounds).

聞こえ…ますか…助け…て…下さい…ネギ…が…豊作で…農家…さん…が…困って…います…そこで…キッチンDIVE…が1000…キロ…1t…大量…買取り…しま…した…今週…土曜日…ネギ無料で…1000キロ…配り…ます…取り…放題…です…ネギ…掴み…取り…して…下さい…店…が…ネギ…で…埋まる…助け… pic.twitter.com/YOPUW1n9qW

— キッチンDIVE クマ店長 (@divemamuru) March 30, 2022

To clarify, Dive didn’t buy 1,000 kilograms of negi to use in its bento. This metric ton is outside of what it’s going to cook with, purchased out of the goodness of its heart to help the farmers who were in a pinch. Dive isn’t trying to flip the green onions and make a profit off of them either, as it will be giving the entire ton away, with its tweet reading:

“Can you…hear us? Help…please. The farmers…had an extra-large negi harvest…couldn’t find buyers. So we bought…1,000 kilos…one ton. This coming Saturday…we will be giving out the 1,000 kilograms of negi…for free. Please…come grab some for yourself…We’re drowning…in negi…save us…”

Other Twitter users who have heard the call for help sound happy to do their part, with comments like:

“Things like this are why I love Kitchen Dive!”
“Even with all the bad things going on in the world, check out this.”
“Well now I’ve gotta go.”
“What a beautiful sight.”
“I bet that room smells crazy.”
“I’m getting fitted for my wedding dress on Saturday morning, but I hope I can make it there before all the negi are gone.”
“Somebody tell Hatsune Miku about this!”

But wait, when Kitchen Dive says the negi are “free,” do they mean “free with the purchase of a Kitchen Dive bento?” That’s what one commenter wanted to know, asking “How much do I need to spend to get the free negi?”, to which Dive replied “You don’t need to buy anything. Coming just to pick up free negi is OK! The reason we’re doing this is to help out the farmers.” The only negi-related surcharge is if you need a bag to put them in, which will cost you 50 yen (US$0.40).

Kitchen Dive is open 24 hours a day, but hasn’t given any official starting time for when customers can start getting their free onions on Saturday, so making a pre-noon negi run is probably the smartest choice.

Shop information
Kitchen Dive / キッチンDive
Address: Tokyo-to, Koto-ku, Kameido 6-58-15 Land Sea Kameido
東京都江東区亀戸６丁目５８−１５ ランドシー亀戸
Open 24 hours

Source: Twitter/@divemamuru (1, 2) via Hachima Kiko
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Insert image: Pakutaso
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