Many people are very busy at the end of the year with activities including sending off gifts for the Oseibo gift season and New Year`s cards, but along with these activities comes the question of osechi ryōri, or the traditional Japanese New Year`s dishes. Each dish has its own particular special symbolic meaning. Traditionally everyone eats the osechi ryōri feast starting on New Year`s day and lasting until everything runs out. However, osechi ryōri happens to be a pretty time-consuming enterprise, and while the cook theoretically gets a break while everyone is munching on osechi ryōri, it might not be worth adding days of hectic preparation in the kitchen on top of everything else that happens around New Year`s. Thus the big question becomes: To buy, or not to buy? Do you make osechi ryōri yourself, or do you order it from a store? Here`s a translation from a quiz from a news website called NewsCafe, reproduced on the page in the link. “Yes or No: Do you Make Osechi Ryōri Yourself?” Here are the results and some choice opinions: 【Yes…36%】 ■ I make what I can myself. ■ I made things I like to eat and then fill the special layered boxes with that. Even if I ordered osechi ryōri there`d be nothing I want to eat. ■ I made less dishes nowadays, but I still do make it. It`s more delicious hand-made, and after all, it`s New Year`s! ■ As much as possible, I try to make it, put it in the jūbako (special lacquered boxes) and teach my daughter how to make it herself. ■ Only partially. Sometimes I don`t like the taste of storebought dishes. ■ It takes time, but it`s fun to make it. ■ Our mom makes it at our house, but she doesn`t put it into lacquered boxes, we just stick it in Tupperware. ■ I can`t actually make it myself…but I think cooking it handmade is wonderful. ■ Yes, but I only make it for me and my spouse, and only the dishes we like. ■ I make it along with my mother. 【Yes…64%】 ■ I don`t eat it, so I don’t make it and I don`t order it! ■ No, I don’t make it. I eat mochi, but even for the New Year`s I eat regular food. ■ I buy it, but that`s only dishes I like, things I will definitely eat. ■ Even if I make it, nobody would eat it… ■ I make it if it looks like I can, but also use storebought items. ■ I have been buying mine for the last few years. It`s come to that. ■ I stay somewhere for New Year`s and eat there, so I`ve never cooked it myself. ■ It takes time and a lot of effort…when I was a child, my mom and grandma made it for us. ■ I`m tired of eating poorly made osechi ryōri. ■ I want to honor these kinds of traditions, but no matter if I make it or buy it, nobody eats it. The web page I got these quiz results from reflects that because osechi ryōri was traditionally made to last a longer time, it might taste a lot stronger, sweeter or more sour than some people are able to handle. Other households pick and choose the flavors or dishes they like, making more of an “osechi-style” meal. Still others relate that they are relating the traditional flavors of their household to the next generation. Maybe the changing modern version of osechi ryōri. the page concludes, is a natural result of factors like the availability of more kitchen appliances and different foods at the market. Original article: excite.co.jp/News/society_clm/20121227/Newscafe_sp_1216255.html
Posted on: Sat, 27 Dec 2014 01:00:01 +0000
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