nanakusa-gayu

Today, as we learned in school yesterday, the entire nation goes on a detox diet. It even has a name - nanakusa no hi, which translates into 'the day of seven greens', or however you wish to translate the word kusa. Usually it refers to leaf veggies. Anyway, on this day, people buy packs of greens like the one shown below, and make an unappetizing porridge out of them in order to recover from New Year's feast. It's so funny that although in Finland people do a lot of detoxing and gym and such after gaining a bit extra around the waist during the Christmas and New Years holidays, it's not a unified, nationwide effort, as it seems to be here. Another perfect example of how important it is to be a part of the group here. Now, I seriously doubt that all Japanese engage in this tradition, but the fact that it is a tradition in the first place must have something to do with the uniformity of the Japanese society.

So I thought I'd give it a try, as well, as I'm no stranger to healthy foods and detox diets, and quite enjoy them. Although my conception of detox does not involve loading your tummy full of white rice and salt, but again, when in Rome...

According to our teacher, this porridge is not considered delicious by any standards, so I was very eager to see if that was really true. I have a tendency to enjoy healthy foods that others find unappetizing. And this porridge was no exception! I mean, it's pretty bland, but is by no means disgusting. Warm, soft and refreshing, I'd say. A lot like Finnish rice porridge without milk, which is always better for your stomach; and with veggies instead of cinnamon and sugar. I do recommend everybody to try, if only just to observe the tradition. If you're not in Japan, you'll probably have a hard time finding the right ingredients - I actually don't even know what you're supposed to put in it since I just bought the convenient package above. But if you're here, you only need that, plus water, rice and salt. Plus there's a recipe behind the box!

Nanakusa-gayu.