--- title: Fast Food: McDonald's Japan Unveils Tofu Chicken McNuggets description: They also include "onions, soybeans, carrots and minced fish" canonical: https://time.com/3051723/mcdonalds-tofu-mcnuggets/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-07-29T15:30:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T08:03:08.076Z og:title: You Can Now Get Tofu McNuggets at McDonald's Japan og:description: Ingredients include "onions, soybeans, carrots and minced fish" og:url: https://time.com/3051723/mcdonalds-tofu-mcnuggets/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03691ab511000b36/69869d9735ba6f22dfc03362/452550326.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4000 og:image:height: 2250 og:image:alt: Views Of FamilyMart Convenience Store And McDonald's Restaurant As Retailers Halt Chicken Sales From China Supplier og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: You Can Now Get Tofu McNuggets at McDonald's Japan twitter:description: Ingredients include "onions, soybeans, carrots and minced fish" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03691ab511000b36/69869d9735ba6f22dfc03362/452550326.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # You Can Now Get Tofu McNuggets at McDonald's in Japan > Sponsored content. 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The Brief is available free at time.com/newsletters, where readers can select it along with any of TIME's other six newsletters. There is no subscription required to receive it. #### Is The Brief free? Yes. The Brief is a free daily email newsletter from TIME. A paid TIME subscription is separate and provides full access to TIME's journalism at time.com/subscribe-agent. #### Who writes The Brief? The Brief is led by editor Richard Hall and draws on reporting from TIME's newsroom. Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: Japanese Tofu McNuggets Commercial [Watch (HLS stream): Japanese Tofu McNuggets Commercial](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FlYF9ZKR.m3u8) (0:15)  _Published 2014-07-29. Tofu McNuggets Commercial_ by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Jul 29, 2014 3:30 PM UTC  A man enters a McDonald's restaurant, operated by McDonald's Holdings Co. Japan Ltd., in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, July 23, 2014\. Japan suspended food imports from Shanghai Husi Food Co., a unit of Aurora, Illinois-based OSI Group, accused of selling products past their expiration dates as FamilyMart Co. joined McDonalds Corp. in pulling affected items from its Japanese outlets. Photographer: Yuriko Nakao/Bloomberg via Getty Images A man enters a McDonald's restaurant, operated by McDonald's Holdings Co. Japan Ltd., in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, July 23, 2014\. Japan suspended food imports from Shanghai Husi Food Co., a unit of Aurora, Illinois-based OSI Group, accused of selling products past their expiration dates as FamilyMart Co. joined McDonalds Corp. in pulling affected items from its Japanese outlets. Photographer: Yuriko Nakao/Bloomberg via Getty ImagesYuriko Nakao / Bloomberg / Getty Images by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Jul 29, 2014 3:30 PM UTC If the “chicken” in McDonald’s “chicken” nuggets freaks you out, head over to Japan to try the franchise’s newest snack: Tofu Shinjo Nuggets, which officially go on sale this Wednesday. They don’t include any chicken — instead, they’re made from ingredients including onions, soybeans, carrots and minced fish, a McDonald’s spokesperson[ told](http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2014/07/29/tastes-like-chicken-mcdonalds-japan-offers-tofu-mcnuggets/) the _Wall Street Journal._ They’ll also come with a ginger-flavored sauce. “Because it isn’t meat, it tastes a bit different. It’s a bit softer,” the spokesperson said. “Calorie-wise, it is a bit lower than chicken as well.” They basically look like little patties with some pale bits of vegetables mixed in. Check them out in this advertisement: Apparently, McDonald’s had plans to begin selling this product well before the[ recent allegations](http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/07/22/us-china-food-idUSKBN0FR07K20140722) that the chain had been using expired meat. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3051723/mcdonalds-tofu-mcnuggets/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3051723/mcdonalds-tofu-mcnuggets/"},"headline":"You Can Now Get Tofu McNuggets at McDonald's in Japan","datePublished":"2014-07-29T15:30:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T08:03:08.076Z","description":"Ingredients include \"onions, soybeans, carrots and minced fish\"","url":"https://time.com/3051723/mcdonalds-tofu-mcnuggets/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Food & Drink","Japan","Mcdonald's","Fast Food"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03691ab511000b36/69869d9735ba6f22dfc03362/452550326.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt03691ab511000b36/69869d9735ba6f22dfc03362/452550326.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Views Of FamilyMart Convenience Store And McDonald's Restaurant As Retailers Halt Chicken Sales From China Supplier","caption":"Views Of FamilyMart Convenience Store And McDonald's Restaurant As Retailers Halt Chicken Sales From China Supplier","creditText":"Yuriko Nakao / Bloomberg / Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3051723/mcdonalds-tofu-mcnuggets/","name":"You Can Now Get Tofu McNuggets at McDonald's in Japan"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Japanese Tofu McNuggets Commercial","description":"Tofu McNuggets Commercial","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/FlYF9ZKR/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2014-07-29T16:43:29.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/FlYF9ZKR.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3051723/mcdonalds-tofu-mcnuggets/","duration":"PT15S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3051723/mcdonalds-tofu-mcnuggets/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```