The Japanese calendar is filled with many food rituals. While we start the year off with a big bang with お節料理 osechi ryōri, the next event is a nourishing bowl of rice porridge with seven greens, 七草粥 nanakusa gayu. Kayu is rice porridge and nanakusa refers to the seven edible greens. The daikon and turnip are also chopped up…
Category: rituals
Osechi Ryori – Japanese New Year’s Cuisine
お節料理 Osechi ryori, colorful food in lacquer boxes, is a traditional cuisine, which is eaten in the first three days of the new year. Its origins can be traced back to about 400 years ago. It started as simple food to serve the god of the Shinto shrines and to wish for a peaceful year. It…
Toshikoshi Soba – End of Year Soba
Our last meal of each year in Japan is soba, buckwheat noodles. We call this toshi koshi soba (年越し蕎麦), literally crossing into the new year soba. At first I didn’t get the ritual. Why such a simple meal, either for dinner, or if you are up at midnight, as a small snack late at night? Shouldn’t…
Food Sake Tokyo 