I went back to Japan this winter vacation to eat osechi! How many people tried osechi (=お節) before? In Japan, we eat osechi as a New Year’s day special meal. A few decades ago, usually each family made this by themselves. It took about three days to make it all; however, in recent years we just buy an osechi pack from a famous hotel or restaurant. (Example picture is below)
blog.new-agriculture.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/umeamazon
Most osechi include fish cake, egg roll, sweet chestnut, herring roe…etc.. Each dish has a particular meaning. For example:
Fish cake, kamaboko (=かまぼこ), this dish symbolizes the sun rise.
www.kibun.co.jp/knowledge/shogatsu/osechi/iware.html
Sweet chestnut symbolizes praise and treasure, to hope for a rich year.
www.kibun.co.jp/knowledge/shogatsu/osechi/iware.html
Herring roe symbolizes prosperity of descendants.
www.kibun.co.jp/knowledge/shogatsu/osechi/iware.html
What kind of traditional food do you eat in your home country?