In search of the fantastic retro bread “New Bird”

How many of you readers have heard of the bread called “New Bird”?
The name probably does not ring a bell with non-Kyoto people, or even those who live in Kyoto but are in their fifties or younger.
Among the younger generation, rare, someone might clap their hands, saying “Oh, I’ve heard that name before!”
However, this is usually based on the experience of seeing or hearing about New Bird being hyped as Kyoto’s local bread by mass media such as newspapers, magazines, and television.
It would be rare, even in Kyoto today, for anyone to have actually seen, held, and tasted a real new bird.

Tracing back the history of “New Bird”.

It is a well-known story that the annual consumption of bread in Kyoto competes with that of Kobe for first and second place in Japan every year.
In fact, there are more than 280 bakeries in Kyoto City, each of which offers a unique selection of breads, such as meal breads, prepared breads, bagels, etc., that are particular about appearance and taste.

In these times, what do you think?
This is a picture of “New Bird”, which is known as “Kyoto’s local bread”.

The appearance is just deep-fried so-called “coppepan”.
And the cross-section of the cut is like this.

　
As you can see from the picture, its characteristics are…
　
1: There is a sausage in it.
2: The dough is covered with curry powder.

And that’s all.
It has a simple, rustic appearance that is completely different from the fashionable breads often seen in bakeries these days.

The taste of the bread crumbs spread in your mouth when you take a bite, followed by the salty flavor of the sausage in the middle of the bread and the curry powder sprinkled on the bread dough around the sausage, which together make for a very lasting taste.
It is a little oily, but that is strange because it enhances the subtle flavor of the curry powder.
The sausage in the center was fish meat, as was the original New Bird.

So why is such a simple bread still talked about as Kyoto’s local bread?

More than half a century ago, there was a company in Kyoto called Saikodo Bakery.
Originally, a man from Omi named Morio Torii started a successful printing company in Kyoto and started a baking business with the funds from that company.
Seikodo Bakery was very prolific and by the mid-1960s was competing for market share in Kyoto with Shinshindo, which is still a well-known, long-established bakery in Kyoto today.

At that time, Seikodo’s main sales network was its own directly managed store, which was named “Bird”.
The number of “Bird” dealers reached 66 in Kyoto Prefecture at its peak.
At that time, most bakeries simply purchased dough from major bread companies and baked it in the oven, rather than having store owners knead their own dough as they do today.
The same was true of the Bird chain, which purchased frozen bread formed by Seikodo Bakery and baked in the ovens of the individual stores.
When Seikodo Bakery launched its “Bird” chain, the “New Bird” was the centerpiece product.

The origin of the name is quite simple: “New” because it is a new product, and “Bird” because it is bread sold by the “Bird” chain.

This “New Bird” was very popular in Kyoto at that time.

As a young child, I, who writes this column, also remembers being taken by mother to the bakery’s eaves to buy “New Bird” often.
When it first came out, the price of “New Bird” was 20 yen per piece.
The “New Bird” came in an oil-soaked plastic bag, and the texture was not crunchy, but rather most, but it was still a great treat for the columnist at that time.
In retrospect, “New Bird” was probably the first of the so-called prepared breads.

Well, the Seikodo Bakery and its subsidiary, the Bird chain, had been thriving in this way, but they went bankrupt at the end of the 20th century in the wake of the recession that followed the bursting of the bubble economy.

The “Bird” chain has dropped its sign across the board and been forced out of business, or changed its name and continued to operate bakeries, though in smaller numbers.

Among the surviving stores of those past “Bird” chains, the old-fashioned “New Bird” is still being sold.

“New Bird”, a retro bread that is being hailed in the Reiwa period.

It has been nearly 40 years since the Showa period passed away, but the media often reports that a Showa retro boom is taking place among the younger generation who do not know anything about the Showa period.
In the Showa period (1926-1989), the rooftop amusement parks of department stores were lively, shopping streets were on the rise, and the number of public bathhouses was
high when indoor baths were not widely available to the general public, all of which are now in a tendency here and there that anything and everything that is no longer seen to be retro and fashionable to be in the limelight.
With such a tailwind of the times, this “New Bird” has also become one of Kyoto’s specialties.
About 10 years ago, this bread was a nearly endangered species, but the retro boom has helped some of the newer types of bakeries to bake it.

Well, let me introduce you to some of the bakeries that the columnist actually visited and talked to.

In case of “Kanaria”

This bakery is located near the columnist’s house, on the ground floor of a large apartment complex consisting of 1,500 households in total.
The store has been in operation since the early 1950s, when the apartment complex was built.
The store’s appearance is reminiscent of an old-fashioned bakery.

Here “New Bird” have been sold from that time to today.

I got into the bakery and talk to the owner’s wife.
“Kanaria-san, your store used to be called Bird Seikodo Kanaria, correct?”
“That’s right. My husband’s father started it, but at that time we are buying seeds from Seikodo. But when his father passed away, my husband and his older brother took over and ran the store together. In the meantime, Seikodo Bakery went bankrupt, and my husband’s older brother quit the bakery. Since that time we have taken Bird Seikodo and changed our name Kanaria.
“You’ve been baking “New Bird” for a long time, haven’t you?”
“That’s right. After all, it was the signature product of the Seikodo era.”
“I’m sure you’re right. Many fans have memories of eating one in the past.”
“By the way, do young people who don’t know ‘New Bird’ in its heyday come to buy one?”
“Recently, it has been selling well. Young people are coming to buy them in groups. New Bird is very popular.”
“Now your husband is kneading the dough?”
That’s right. Seikodo is no longer in business, is it?”

In case of the Brother Bakery

The columnist visited another bakery called Brother Bakery.
This bakery opened about five years ago in the Sanjo shopping district.

This store also bakes “New Bird”.
I spoke to the owner of the store.

“I’ll get right to it, Brother Bakery bakes ‘New Bird’, for what reason?”
“Actually, I am the third generation in business. This was the third time the store had moved, even in my generation. As for ‘New Bird’, my grandfather used to work at Seikodo, and that’s how I started baking. I learned from my grandfather the art of baking bread and started my own business. The store at that time was part of the ‘Bird’ chain. When my father took over the store, Seikodo went bankrupt and we dropped the name ‘Bird’ and changed it to Brother Bakery. But ‘New Bird’ has been around since my grandfather’s generation. I’m taking it over, too. Still, according to my father, the ‘New Bird’ that he and I are baking is not the real thing. It was used different sausages.”

“How is that different?”
“The real ‘New Bird’ sausages were square and made of different ingredients.”
“It was fish sausage, wasn’t it?”
“Fish meat is fish meat, but it’s not the same as what we have now. It is no longer available.”
Does Brother Bakery serve this ‘New Bird’ often?”
We sell out in the morning. Old fans are nostalgic, and younger customers come all the way out here to buy it after reading about it in the magazine.”

The conclusion

What I have found this this by actually carrying my foot to the stores is that the old-fashioned ‘New Bird’ which is about to revive is becoming a fresh attractiveness with its simple taste to the generations who have memories having it when Seikodo Bakery’s breads were in their boom, of course, but also to Z generation who don’t know Showa period.

The ’New Bird’ is deep-fried, slightly flavored with curry powder, and has just a sausage in the center.

The nostalgic flavor of the old days is perhaps the biggest reason for the resurgence of its popularity.

Now, I would like to describe bakeries in Kyoto that bake “New Bird”.

1: Kanaria: (by the name of wiener fry) Nakayo Ward
2: Brother Bakery: Nakagyo Ward
3: Maruki Bakery: Shimogyo Ward
4: Bird Kangetudo: Fushimi Ward
5: Pan-nochi-hare: Sakyo Ward
6: Shizuya
7: Pitaa-pan: Ukyo Ward
8: Marie France Imadegawa store (by the name of Frank Donut): Kamigyo Ward

By the way, the price of “New Bird” was 180 yen at Kanaria and 303 yen at Brother Bakery.

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Author

つばくろ(Tsubakuro)
I was born and raised in Kyoto and am a native Kyotoite.
When I was young, I longed to visit Tokyo and Osaka, which are more bustling than Kyoto, but as I have gotten older, I have come to appreciate Kyoto a little more.
In this site, I will introduce you to some of the best places to explore Kyoto's food that you might otherwise miss at first glance.