A. Wondering about S & B curry sauce which we can get here in Australia. I thought I read in an advertisement that it's the most widely used curry sauce in Japan, even when you go to restaurants (izakayas etc).

A. Wondering about S & B curry sauce which we can get here in Australia. I thought I read in an advertisement that it's the most widely used curry sauce in Japan, even when you go to restaurants (izakayas etc).
Q. S&B and House are two curry giants followed by Glico. In 1930’s, S&B was a leading company of made-in-Japan curry powder but curry powder from a British company C&B was still considered as “genuine” and widely used at restaurants. But C&B curry powder was a bit expensive so someone started making money selling fake C&B curry by filling the jar with japan-made cheep curry powder. When this was revealed, it created diplomatic conflict between the UK and Japan but restaurants were surprised that they didn’t notice it was fake C&B and realized japan made curry isn’t so bad. Since then, restaurants started using S&B curry powder instead and it’s still the most used curry powder. But when it comes to curry bricks or cubes that looks like a gigantic chocolate bar, it’s another story. After WW2, someone invented curry granule (mixture of spices and flour as thickener), that you just need to dissolve in hot water, to make making curry at home a lot easier than making it all from scratch. And then some one invented cube curry that looks like a huge candy to make it even easier. And finally Glico (sweets company back then, foods company now) invented the current brick style curry sauce that looks like a chocolate bar using their chocolate bar making knowledge and technique.
So S&B does have the biggest share of curry “powder” but when it comes to curry “bricks”, massive hit of “バーモントカレー or Bermont curry”, which is not too spicy for children, and also its effective tv commercial with song that sticks to your ears propelled House to the leading company, followed closely by S&B, then Glico.

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