Dango (Dumpling)

Today, I will talk about the traditional Japanese food "dango".

Dango is a kind of dumpling made from flour of cereal or rice, which is added to water and steamed.

There are various kind of dango; seasoned with bean paste of sugar and soy sauce, soybean flour, or artemisia.

"Hanami dango" (dango for cherry-blossom viewing) is often eaten during cherry blossom viewing party, and is usually composed of three color dango that is on a skewer.

There are some theories of the reason of three color dango, but the most widely accepted one is that the red (pink) dango means cherry blossom, the white dango means spring haze, the green dango means verdure, that is, the hanami dango expresses spring.

By the way, there is a Japanese proverb "花より団子" (dango is better than blossoms), which means that people prefer to beneficial things than beautiful things.

団子

今日は、日本の伝統的な食べ物「団子」を紹介します。

団子は穀物の粉に水を加えて丸め、蒸したり茹でたりして作る食べ物です。

砂糖醤油の餡やきなこで味付けしたり、丸める際によもぎを練り込んだり、さまざまな種類の団子が存在します。

「花見団子」と呼ばれる団子は、花見のときによく食べられる団子で、通常は３色の団子が一つの串に刺さっています。

３色の理由は諸説ありますが、赤（ピンク）の団子は桜を、白の団子は春霞を、緑の団子は新緑を意味し、全体で「春」を表しているという説が有力です。

ちなみに、日本には「風流よりも実利を選ぶ」ことを意味する「花より団子」ということわざがあります。