From cold curry sauce to garlic sweets, this summer sees the launch of weird and wonderful products aimed at beating the season's intense heat. Here are but a few:

Chilled Hiroshima okonomiyaki: This revolutionary product developed by the Tokugawa restaurant chain has been making waves on the web as Japanese get their heads round the mindboggling concept of cold okonomiyaki. Made in the Kansai style, it contains strips of meat and cabbage with a special ponzu-based sauce and dried bonito flakes on top. It has a lighter texture than your average stodgy okonomiyaki, making it easy summer eating. Because you don’t need to use a microwave to make it, it also helps you do your bit for setsuden (power saving).

Chilled curry: This chilled sauce is designed to be poured on top of cold noodles. The concept of chilled curry sauce for noodles was introduced by Yamasa last year, so the fact that House Foods has jumped on the bandwagon this year proves that the concept has staying power.