Ozoni is an iconic dish representative of New Years food eaten in Japan.
The word “Ozoni” itself is believed to original from “Omaze”, the mixing together and simmering of various ingredients.
Because Ozoni varies differently in both ingredients and preparation methods from region to region and household to household, it is difficult to explain exactly what it is. Being impossible to precisely pin down is in and of itself a characteristic of Ozoni.
It is a local Japanese dish that uses rice cakes as a base and features a soup stock seasoned with soy sauce, salt and miso, but the variety of ingredients and flavoring are so diverse as to make you wonder if it should really be called the same dish.
In some regions, bonito and konbu broth are used to make a clear soup that is then garnished with chicken, daikon radish, chicken cut into shapes, with mitsuba for decoration, and a sliver of yuzu peel to provide fragrance. To make it easier to eat a lot of them, the rice cakes are made into square shapes.
In other regions, round rice cakes are put in a white soup paste broth as a good luck charm to wish for harmony. The ingredients are kept simple, with just taro, carrots, and the rice cake itself.
In still other regions, the cultural practice of using round rice cakes filled with sweetened red bean paste in ozoni exists.
It is a food with such strong regional characteristics that controversy can arise on just how ozoni should be made.
Not just the way it is prepared, but the bowl in which the ozoni is served is also of interest. Putting it in a lidded lacquerware ozoni bowl gives it an air as a dignified dish appropriate for New Years celebrations.
Ozoni is a local dish so beloved and familiar that for some people it is all they need for a New Year’s Celebration.