Letter No.16 The First Supper

 

Gaping at the decorated grilled sea bream,

Bubu's saliva was dripping down on the floor. 

My grandpa took the first move in accordance with the ancient Japanese tradition where the most elderly must serve the youngest at this particular ritual for the newborn.

Grandpa first brought his red-lacquered chopsticks over to a bowl of sekihan or steamed rice with red beans.

He then hovered the chopsticks near Bubu's mouth as if he was feeding him the food. 

He moved onto another bowl of osuimono or clear broth soup, followed by grilled sea bream and then the sekihan again, repeating the back and forth motion between each dish and Bubu’s mouth to mirror the hand movement of feeding a baby.

Bubu's eyes keep moving along with the grandpa's chopsticks movement. 

My dad jumped in and followed exactly the same procedure.

Finally, I followed suit. 

The ritual requires following the same process three times. 

This ceremony is called Okuizome, which literally means the very first meal for a newborn baby. 

It's usually held on the 100th day anniversary of the baby's birth in hopes for its good health and that it will never suffer any food shortage in its entire life.

Since Bubu cannot eat anything but formula right now,

all he could do was to watch Daddy finish Bubu’s fancy meal in front of him,

with non-stop cascade of saliva drooling from his mouth. 

I'm sorry Bubu. You just need to wait for another few weeks to start your solids.

Don’t worry. You have so much mouth-watering food ahead of you!!!

P.S. We brought back the sea bream and cooked taimeshi (sea bream rice) at home!