O-sechi: Traditional Japanese Cuisine for New Years

O-sechi: Traditional Japanese Cuisine for New Years

A Feast for the Eyes

O-medetoo gozaimasu is Japanese for congratulations, the traditional o-shogatsu, or New Year’s greeting. In Japan, the holiday spans four to five days, and on those days, women do not cook. (Men rarely do, other than making gyoza, or pot stickers.)

Food is prepared in advance, so not to be cut or burnt during the cooking process on New Year’s, which might lead to, according to belief, a year of misfortune. Then the women get a four day break. It’s a tradition that dates back nearly one thousand years.

Special dishes are prepared, called o-sechi, which has no translation. The dishes are colorful and artistic, eaten at room temperature. On the first day, soba, or buckwheat noodles, are often consumed. Most come in stacked wooden boxes called ju-bako, with multiple compartments.

Packaging

Martin Koleff, who is behind several of our best Japanese restaurants, including Raku, Nakamura-Ya and others, was kind enough to deliver a trio of jibako to my door yesterday, so we could enjoy them today.

with tea

The only thing missing was mochi, pounded rice cakes, and it’s just as well. Mochi is a leading cause of death in Japan New Year’s Eve, when revelers three sheets to the wind wolf them down. They cause choking and in the worst case, death by food inhalation.

Now, I’ve had many types of o-sechi, foods which all have significance for good luck, long life, etc. But the foods I got on Dec. 31^st, have to be the most artistic, labor intensive examples of the genre I’ve ever seen. What’s more, they were delicious. Arigato, Martin-san.

I’ve photographed the boxes after un-stacking them, and offer a brief description of a few of the foods. The lobster is self-explanatory, and so are the whole shrimps. But I should mention that they are cooked in mirin, a sweet rice wine, rice vinegar, and the requisite touch of soy.

Hidden beneath the lobster is pricey abalone, and in a small ceramic crock, kuromame, or glazed black beans, which symbolize health. I’d describle the significance of the herring roe, tuna stuffed sea tangle, kazunoko, or herring roe, o-fu, hand dyed wheat gluten, and the many other components of the boxes, but it would take too much space.

I can tell you that two Italian house guests oohed and aahed when I took the boxes apart. This is food they’d never imagined, and since it contained quite a bit of seafood, they ate it with considerable zeal.

Check out the most colorful box, the one filled with small goodies and sweets. One of the items, the one with white and yellow ribbons, is an exquisite two-toned egg sweet called nishiki tamago. I love it.

Have A Sweet Year!

Perhaps next year, I’ll ask Martin to include mochi, too, but I’ll eat it slowly. Best Wishes for a Happy 2012 to all, especially to our readers.

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