A calendar of Japanese foods

[Hiroyuki]

Vernal Equinox Day falls on today, March 20th, this year. This day is also the chuunichi (middle day) of Higan or O-higan (vernal equinoctial week).

We make botamochi in this weak.

Botamochi is basically the same as o-hagi, which is made in the autumnal equinoctial week.

http://www.nsknet.or.jp/~chrkaji/yasuko/recipe/106_e.html

Higan:

http://www.yoke.city.yokohama.jp/echo/0403/c.html

Edited March 20, 2005 by Hiroyuki (log)

[Hiroyuki]

Hachiju hachiya.

I am an avid green-tea drinker, drinking more than two liters of green tea every day. Why not drink green tea on this particular day?

http://web-jpn.org/kidsweb/calendar/may/88.html

***

Forgot to tell you that hachiju hachiya falls on today, May 2nd, this year.

Edited May 2, 2005 by Hiroyuki (log)

[Hiroyuki]

May 5th is Tango no Sekku (Boys' Day).

Store-bought chimaki (75 yen per piece)

A thread on Boys' Day:

http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=20512&hl=tango

[torakris]

MAY 9 IS ICE CREAM DAY!!

I didn't know this until I saw it on the evening news last night....

So at 7:45 the family and I jumped into the car, headed to the nearest convenience store and bought ice cream.

Mari wrote about it on her blog as well

Japanese ice cream thread

where to find good ice cream in Japan thread

[Hiroyuki]

土用の丑の日 doyou no ushi no hi falls on July 28th this year.

Let's have some eel on this day!

I saw a sad news story on TV yesterday about the eel wholesale price being increased by 30% because of low catches of young eels .

For information on doyou no ushi no hi, check this out:

http://tasteofculture.com/display-text.php?pd_key=32#top

[Hiroyuki]

Obon starts tomorrow, August 13th, and lasts until 16th. No particular foods are associated with obon, but many people return to their hometowns and enjoy local foods.

[helenjp]

Hiroyuki, did your family get together for obon? Around Tokyo, I notice that people rarely leave food or drink at the graves any more, because it is such a long trip to the graveyard that it is difficult to come back 3 days later and clear it all up, so temples insist that people leave only flowers and tea. In the family, I was told that fresh water or tea is the very best thing to offer at a family altar, and that must be seen to before any other food or drink is offered.

However, there is a very old graveyard near my home which has become associated with a local temple, and because it originally belonged to a local family as their private graveyard, I notice cans of beer or sake, and those wrapped trays of big, brightly-colored sweets that they sell in the supermarkets.

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

Here in the States, most of the Obon festivities are in July. I know a lot of people who go back to their hometowns when possible to attend services there.

[Hiroyuki]

Hiroyuki, did your family get together for obon? Around Tokyo, I notice that people rarely leave food or drink at the graves any more, because it is such a long trip to the graveyard that it is difficult to come back 3 days later and clear it all up, so temples insist that people leave only flowers and tea. In the family, I was told that fresh water or tea is the very best thing to offer at a family altar, and that must be seen to before any other food or drink is offered.

However, there is a very old graveyard near my home which has become associated with a local temple, and because it originally belonged to a local family as their private graveyard, I notice cans of beer or sake, and those wrapped trays of big, brightly-colored sweets that they sell in the supermarkets.

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My brother, my sister, and I got together at our parents' house in Kimitsu city, Chiba, so did most of our respective family members. Unfortunately, my mother was hospitalized two days before, and I really don't have much to talk about the foods we had at the get-together, except that I had grilled eels and tuna sashimi most of the time (both frozen in the freezer).

Things are quite different here in Shiozawa. Here, children take plastic bags with them, and they are allowed to pick up the foods and sweets offered to ancestors as soon as the group or family who offer them leave the grave.

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

Things are quite different here in Shiozawa.  Here, children take plastic bags with them, and they are allowed to pick up the foods and sweets offered to ancestors as soon as the group or family who offer them leave the grave.

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My Japanese grandmother always told me that bringing something home from a cemetary is bad luck. I guess that must be her own personal hang up, and not a Japanese thing in general.

[Kiem Hwa]

In Hawaii the most common foods Ive noticed this season at the Bon Dances are....shave ice, saimin, hotdogs, and chili... Also, depending on the Honganji, there may be more elaborate foods, like bentos, yakisoba, meat skewers, sushi, plates lunches of various Hawaii fare, etc.

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

In Hawaii the most common foods Ive noticed this season at the Bon Dances are....shave ice, saimin, hotdogs, and chili...  Also, depending on the Honganji, there may be more elaborate foods, like bentos, yakisoba, meat skewers, sushi, plates lunches of various Hawaii fare, etc.

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The obon festival at the church I went to growing up (a Soto Zen one in LA) featured tacos, tako yaki, ika yaki, grilled corn, okinawa dango, shave ice, kintoki, ohagi, sushi, udon and teriyaki beef and chicken. I will admit that this particular church seems to have a larger population of more recent immigrants from Japan than norm. The big Nishi Hongangi (sp?) down the street serves the same kind of stuff.

The Jodo Shinshu church that my husband's family goes to doesn't have food at their Bon Odori, but they do have a bazaar in the spring where they serve things like grilled steaks, curry beef, chirashi, futomaki, udon, burgers and hot dogs, grilled corn in teriyaki sauce, egg rolls and chinese chicken salad... a much more americanized affair.

Cheryl

[Kiem Hwa]

In Hawaii the most common foods Ive noticed this season at the Bon Dances are....shave ice, saimin, hotdogs, and chili...  Also, depending on the Honganji, there may be more elaborate foods, like bentos, yakisoba, meat skewers, sushi, plates lunches of various Hawaii fare, etc.

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The obon festival at the church I went to growing up (a Soto Zen one in LA) featured tacos, tako yaki, ika yaki, grilled corn, okinawa dango, shave ice, kintoki, ohagi, sushi, udon and teriyaki beef and chicken. I will admit that this particular church seems to have a larger population of more recent immigrants from Japan than norm. The big Nishi Hongangi (sp?) down the street serves the same kind of stuff.

The Jodo Shinshu church that my husband's family goes to doesn't have food at their Bon Odori, but they do have a bazaar in the spring where they serve things like grilled steaks, curry beef, chirashi, futomaki, udon, burgers and hot dogs, grilled corn in teriyaki sauce, egg rolls and chinese chicken salad... a much more americanized affair.

Cheryl

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Ohhh.... just where is this Soto Zen temple in LA? Ill be in LA during next year's obon season. How popular is Obon in LA? Do many non-Japanese attend? Which temples there have the best bon dance and best foods? I am only familiar with the temple right off of Sawtelle, and thier parking lot is so tiny I cant imagine they have a very large Bon Dance unless they close the street (or is there space in the back??)

Here in Hawaii, the obon-regulars are usually the older Japanese that attend various Honganji, but all other people of all ethnicities and ages join in, and surely outnumber them by far. Also its so popular here that the Obon season is pretty long, although I have no idea how long it lasts in other places or in Japan.

http://starbulletin.com/2005/05/28/features/story1.html

[helenjp]

Blimey, the jodo shinshu temple where my mother in law is buried would never serve food to parishioners under any pretext - they need every yen themselves to pay for the imported luxury cars and their private houses which tower over the actual temple!!!

This is the temple that forbids people from making food offerings because they can't be bothered cleaning it up, though they charge a good hefty maintenance fee for graves! When I die, I think I'll specifiy in my will that my family should leave a whole ungutted squid on my grave every week...

I admit that not every temple is like that one, though!

[Hiroyuki]

Juugoya falls on September 18 this year.

As I stated here, I usually don't celebrate Juugoya. How about you?

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

Ohhh.... just where is this Soto Zen temple in LA?  Ill be in LA during next year's obon season.  How popular is Obon in LA?  Do many non-Japanese attend?  Which temples there have the best bon dance and best foods?  I am only familiar with the temple right off of Sawtelle, and thier parking lot is so tiny I cant imagine they have a very large Bon Dance unless they close the street (or is there space in the back??)

Here in Hawaii, the obon-regulars are usually the older Japanese that attend various Honganji, but all other people of all ethnicities and ages join in, and surely outnumber them by far.  Also its so popular here that the Obon season is pretty long, although I have no idea how long it lasts in other places or in Japan.

http://starbulletin.com/2005/05/28/features/story1.html

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The temple my family goes to is in Little Tokyo on Hewitt... off of First St. It's a few blocks down from the Japanese American National Museum. It's called Zenshuji.

Obon is pretty popular in Southern California. Most of the Buddhist temples have weekend long Obon carnivals. There's a Nishi Hongangi a little farther down first street from the Zenshuji that has a big carnival the same weekend.

[Kiem Hwa]

This weekend is the Harvest Moon Festival.... Chinese eat mooncakes...

I suppose in Japan, this occasion is Otsukimi?

[Hiroyuki]

Vernal Equinox Day falls on today, March 20th, this year.  This day is also the chuunichi (middle day) of Higan or O-higan (vernal equinoctial week).

We make botamochi in this weak.

Botamochi is basically the same as o-hagi, which is made in the autumnal equinoctial week.

http://www.nsknet.or.jp/~chrkaji/yasuko/recipe/106_e.html

Higan:

http://www.yoke.city.yokohama.jp/echo/0403/c.html

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Autumnal Equinox Day falls on today, September 23, this year.

My wife says she will go to her parental house to get some o-hagi, as she does every year.

[MomOfLittleFoodies]

Autumnal Equinox Day falls on today, September 23, this year.

My wife says she will go to her parental house to get some o-hagi, as she does every year.

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O-hagi, otherwise known as the only Japanese confection that makes me cringe. It's tasty, but kind of messy to make.

When I was a teenager, I helped with the prep work for food for the Obon carnival at church. For 3 years in a row, I spent several hours in the morning, for both days, making o-hagi. By the time I was done each morning, I had anko under my nails, in my hair... ugh. Each morning we'd get 5lbs of anko and who knows how many tiny rice balls to work with.

I can still make o-hagi... never forgot. Much like mochi at mochitsuki time... almost like going on autopilot.

Cheryl

[Hiroyuki]

Did anyone eat kabocha on the winter solstice, which fell on December 22 this year? I didn't. You don't want to go out to buy some kabocha on a stormy, snowy day, do you?

[helenjp]

Yeah, we did - I'm just getting round to loading photos.

1) Sweet pumpkin soup with shiratama dumplings. Good!

2) Pumpkin shiratama mochi boiled then grilled crispy, with a mitarashi sauce (kombu dashi with brown sugar, soy sauce, mirin). OK, but not good enough to justify the effort (the pumpkin affected the mochi texture).

[Hiroyuki]

In Japan, throughout the year, there are various days on which certain foods are eaten. I was thinking it would be nice to list these days (and the foods of course) in a thread, handling each day as we approach it and then by the end of the year we would have a full calendar!

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Let me wrap this thread up with toshikoshi soba.

I did some googling to find that an astonishing percentage of Japanese still eat toshikoshi soba on New Year's New: According to this questionnaire survey (Japanese only), 76 % of the respondents replied that they eat toshikoshi soba on New Year's Eve to the question, "What are annual events essential to New Year's Eve?".

Three possible reasons why Japanese eat toshikoshi soba on this particular day are described here.

Of course, my family are going to have toshikoshi soba and some tempura for tonight's supper.

[Hiroyuki]

I forgot to mention toshitori zakana (年取り魚; lit. 'getting old' fish), which refers to the fish that you eat on New Year's Eve. The fish is sake (salmon) in Eastern Japan and buri (yellowtail) in Western Japan. I hadn't been familiar with toshitori zakana until my wife mentioned it after we got married. She says that when she was small, she always ate grilled salmon on New Year's Eve and that she wasn't familiar with toshikoshi soba then.

[torakris]

We spent all last year making a calendar of foods eaten in Japan and just this month Nipponia did something similar.

It isn't all food, but if there are special foods to be eaten that mont they are covered.

[Hiroyuki]

FEBRUARY 3rd

This is Setsubun and the most famous food for this day is of course the mame (beans), you will find these sold in various ways leading up to this day most often in small packets like this.

These beans are thrown around in the house or out, while shouting for the evil spirits to leave and for the happiness to come in. Some people also eat the same number of beans as their age for extra luck in the upcoming year.

There is also a custom of eating grilled sardines and then putting their heads on sticks outside your door to further ward off evil spirits.

and

Other celebrations of Setsubun involve eating Nori Maki, a special sushi roll. Particularly in Western Japan, many face the "lucky direction" (in geomantic form) for the year (SSW for 2003) and try to eat the entire sushi roll without saying a word. Those who are able to accomplish this feat (the roll is about 20 cm long) are promised luck with their business, longevity, and freedom from illness. In Osaka, where this tradition appears to have originated, some people say the practice started when a young Geisha ate the tasty delicacy in order to assure she would be with her favorite lover in the coming year. In some areas, the Nori Maki is made with a stuffing of seven colors which represent Shichi Fukujin (seven gods of happiness).

from here

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I have ordered eight eho maki (lucky-direction rolls) for all my family from a supermarket, and we are going to have them on Setsubun Day. This year, the lucky direction is north-northwest.

To tell you the truth, I wasn't keen on following this custom because it's mainly a Kansai thing and it would be like succumbing to commercialism to follow it, until one day, a sister-in-law, who works at a newly opened supermarket, called me and asked to order some rolls.