Fukui Residents Feast On Gigantic Portions In Eating Ritual For Plentiful Year

In a February 17, 2017, Japan, ceremony meant to call for a bountiful and healthy year, 32 men dressed in traditional formal attire gathered in a house in Echizen, Fukui Prefecture, each to gorge on a 15-centimer tower of rice and about 2 kilograms of burdock root prepared with miso paste, among other dishes. The burdock (gobo) specialty is a central element to the culinary rite called “goboko,” which is said to go back more than 300 years. Presently the annual event is passed among 45 households in the area. The participants nibbled at the mega-portions and drank sake after prayers and drumming.