Starting the New Year with Auspicious Food: “Osechi” from Kanazawa | : Japan in Video

During the New Year’s holidays in Japan, dinner tables are loaded with boxes filled with “osechi ryōri”—holiday cuisine in layered lacquer boxes artistically filled with a variety of foods, many of which have auspicious associations. “Osechi” is an indispensable part of the scene when family members and relatives gather to celebrate the start of the year. Formerly made at home, “osechi” now is commonly bought ready to eat in pre-boxed sets. In Kanazawa, which has a centuries-long tradition of gourmet cuisine, renowned “ryōtei” (high-class Japanese restaurants) compete in offering distinctive, painstakingly prepared “osechi” for home consumption. Many sell their sets not just on the spot but also at department stores and on line to customers around the country. Kinjohro, a long-established “ryotei” and “ryokan” (Japanese inn) in Kanazawa prepares boxes of “osechi” that feature local ingredients, such as turnip sushi (“kabura-zushi”—a traditional Kanazawa dish made with slices of yellowtail wedged between piec