🍱 Kujira-jiru

"Kujira-jiru" is an essential New Year's Dish in Southern Hokkaido. As the New Year approaches, it is customary to simmer salted whale and vegetables in a large pot and eat it on the first three days of the New Year. It is repeatedly heated and eaten, so the vegetables in the soup are selected to not fall apart when reheated. In some parts of the region, it is also referred to as "Kujina-jiru." From the late Edo period to the Meiji period when herring fishing was a popular activity, the whales that would "herd the herring to the shore" were regarded as a good omen in Southern Hokkaido. Thus, it is said to have been eaten on New Year's to pray for a bountiful herring catch from early spring. Whales are a valuable source of protein in Hokkaido, and they are salted and made into preserved food as a way to survive in the harsh winters. The salted whales are used as an ingredient in "Kujira-jiru." The other ingredients simmered in the soup consist of wintering vegetables that are harvested in the late autumn season and preserved food such as salt-pickled mountain vegetables. With a high nutritional value, "Kujira-jiru" is an essential dish for surviving through the extreme Hokkaido winters.