Happy New Year!

In this episode, we talk all about the Japanese New Year.

It's a big deal.

You'll find out why it's a good idea to plan way ahead if you want to order food for your Japanese New Year celebrations, and why it's a very, very bad idea to go shopping at an Asian market on New Year's Eve.

There are all kinds of food eaten on New Year's Day:

sushi!

kuromame - make sure you eat 1 bean before noon

osechi ryori

mochi (often eaten as ozoni) - this should be breakfast or first thing to be eaten on New Year's Day

renkon no sunomono (marinated lotus root)

tazukiri (soy sauce-sugar-glazed baby sardines)

kuri kinton (candied chestnut and Japanese sweet potato mash)

tai no shiyaki (salt-grilled sea bream)

On New Year's Eve, many Japanese families eat toshikoshi soba.

And a week later, on January 7th, it's probably a good idea to have some nanakusa gayu (7-herb rice soup) to cleanse your palate from all the rich food you've probably been eating! (We know we have!)