Tucking into a “lucky direction” sushi roll for the annual Setsubun festival is believed to bring go
Tucking into a “lucky direction” sushi roll for the annual Setsubun festival is believed to bring good fortune, but the tradition does not mean good news all round.
Called “Eho-maki” in Japanese, the long sushi roll is consumed on the last day of winter according to the traditional calendar. Its recently established status as a seasonal product, however, has led to some controversy due to the way leftovers are being wasted in bulk, partly due to unreasonably aggressive marketing.
OVERCOOKED
Large quantities of food, likely intended for Eho-maki, were seen being carried into Japan Food Ecology Center Inc.’s recycling plant in Sagamihara, Kanagawa Prefecture, on the afternoon of Feb. 3, the date of this year’s Setsubun festival. The amount was about twice that of rice-based food materials that J.FEC receives on a typical day.
The volume of incoming waste food products related to Eho-maki surges on and around Setsubun every year, according to J.FEC officials.
J.FEC recycles these and other waste foodstuffs into pig feed. Many of the products arrive directly from food plants without even being laid out in storefronts first, J.FEC President Koichi Takahashi said.
Convenience store chains and other retailers take account of sales trends when placing their orders, but an enormous surplus still arises, apparently because plants have to produce extra to avoid possible shortages, Takahashi explained.
Eho-maki is associated with Setsubun because it is believed that eating up a thick sushi roll in silence on that day while looking toward the “lucky direction,” which varies from year to year, brings good luck. The practice, which originated in the Kansai region of western Japan, is believed to have spread further afield after one major convenience store chain began marketing Eho-maki across the nation in the latter half of the 1990s.