Will the New Year begin with sweet rice cakes?

Our Family's Osechi

 

How was your New Year? I wish I could report, "Our household started peacefully," but unfortunately, it erupted.

The Zoni War.

I prefer grilled mochi in a clear broth with bonito and kelp. With yellowtail, bamboo shoots, fish cake, shiitake mushrooms, komatsuna greens, chicken, and black radish—maybe a bit more toppings than usual. But if I may speak my personal opinion without reservation, I like "regular zōni."

On the other hand, my wife, who's from Takamatsu, insists that unless it's that infamous (?) "white miso zōni with sweet bean paste mochi," it doesn't feel like New Year's. Thick, creamy Sanuki white miso with sweet bean paste mochi. I can sort of understand adding sweet carrots and daikon radish to that, but then she insists, "You have to add chicken too!" Just imagine it. Chicken drenched in sweet red bean paste!

I totally get the tradition of savoring Sanuki's famous specialty sugar during New Year's. The sweet-salty combo of miso and sweet red bean paste isn't bad either. Actually, it might be tasty. I might even like it. But here's the thing: "Zōni" supposedly started as the first dish served at banquets during the Muromachi period, which then evolved into a New Year's dish. I mean, really? Why make the very first bite of the year taste so bizarre...?

This is chicken smothered in sweet red bean paste!

But surely this is the wrong attitude for a marketer. As I explained before in the "feeling mode" of "circular thinking," to gather material for ideas, it's crucial to accept various pieces of information without immediately judging whether they're right or wrong. It's about receiving them with a "Hmm, so that's one way of looking at it. For now, hmm hmm." By doing this, the information accumulates in your body as "experience." When you finally use it as material for thought, you can recall it vividly, accompanied by some sense of real feeling.

　From this perspective, savoring the first bite of New Year's soup—white miso with sweet bean paste mochi and chicken—is a golden opportunity to experience "Kagawa" with your whole being. Being stuck in the tradition of clear soup, clear soup, unable to take a new step, is a sign of mental aging.

They also say "fighting during the first three days of the year invites bad luck for the entire year," so I narrowly avoided combat. I prepared both regular mochi and sweet bean paste mochi (available at the Kagawa Prefecture antenna shop in Shimbashi when in season). Even with all this preparation, I still chose clear soup for that first bite. Habits are terrifying.

My mother, who collapsed from a subarachnoid hemorrhage last January, could barely shuffle along when she was discharged in April. Now she's recovered enough to go shopping on her own. This is thanks to Japan's excellent healthcare system and the doctors and nurses working tirelessly on the front lines.

I thought I'd have to do most of the cooking for this year's osechi, but if I can get away with it, why not? Saying things like, "Cooking hard will definitely be good rehab for you," I ended up having Mom prepare most of the osechi boxes.

Your body is essential for everything you do. At the start of the year, I sincerely wish you all good health.

Enjoy!