New Year Porridge

It is common worldwide to celebrate new year. In Japan, we enjoy eating special meals for new year and drinking sake during new year holiday. Some have parties with their families and friends. Others go out and have nice dishes which we don't eat in our daily life.

Imagine how your stomach would be if you eat too much... It must be crying when you appreciate many ricecakes or much alcohol. So it is customary for Japanese to eat porridge on January 7th.

We call this porridge "nanakusa-gayu", which literally means "porridge with seven kinds of herbs". The seven herbs are, cicely, shepherd's purse, gogyo, chickweed, henbit, suzuna, and radish. This porridge is good for digestion, and it is believed that this protects people from illness though the year. It is very hard to pick all kinds of herbs in these days, but the Japanese can buy the pack of herbs at the supermarket.

Nanakusa-gayu is good for health, but don't eat too much!!