Seasonal Food in Japan

  I have been missing Japanese seasonal food for the last 4 months more than I normally do as I am now pregnant and experiencing cravings. Having these cravings, I've found it interesting that they are based on food currently in season in Japan like sukiyaki, oden, chirashi-zushi (type of sushi) and bamboo shoots etc. Sukiyaki and oden are a kind of a hotpot or stew that we normally have in winter and fresh bamboo shoots are something that we can only eat from April to the beginning of May. This led me to realise that Japanese food culture is very much related to the seasons. The seasons in Japan are very distinct and are appreciated in a unique way.

  The first example of this that I could think of is that we have traditional celebrations in months which we see as turning points of the year and traditionally have specific food on these occasions. For instance, 3rd of March is a special day called Momo-no-sekku to celebrate the birth of girls and traditionally we eat chirashi-zushi, a soup called hamagurino osuimono (hamaguri is a type of shellfish), shiro-zake (white sake) and san-shoku arare (Japanese rice crackers coloured in 3 different colours: green, pink and white). Each of these dishes has a particular significance. In terms of the colours, green represents new shoots or sprouting plants, pink represents momo (a type of peach blossom that blooms in March in Japan) and white represents snow so these 3 colours symbolise the seasonal colours we can see in nature in March. Incidentally, we rarely have snow in March in most of Japan but previously we used a lunar calendar, during which March occurred earlier in the year.

  In March of this year (2002) I personally started craving bamboo shoots, which are absolutely lovely when very fresh and the more I thought about them the more I became desperate to eat them. Thankfully, my kind parents went to the countryside to dig for them very early in the season for their awkward daughter and tried to send me 3 tiny ones straight after they had been dug. Fortunately, they arrived here in the UK in perfect condition and while cooking them I was in heaven just smelling them and imagining my parents' kitchen. The taste was just as lovely as the ones I used to eat in Japan.

  I am really proud of our customs of eating a variety of food depending on various seasons and occasions and of appreciating nature, although I am sorry for my husband who still has 4 months of being patient with my peculiar Japanese cravings.