They’re almost too pretty to eat, but you’ll need to chow down if you want to get Japan’s most delicious traditional luck boost.

Setsubun is one of Japan’s more unusual holidays. Held most years on February 3, Setsubun commemorates the start of spring under the old Japanese calendar, and you’re supposed to spend it doing things to ward off bad luck and usher in good fortune for you and your family in the year to come.

So how do you do that? By throwing beans at imaginary or costumed demons, and later eating gigantic sushi rolls packed with luxurious ingredients. Those sushi rolls, called ehomaki, are so tasty that eating them is considered a blessing in and of themselves by foodies, and so every supermarket in Japan sells them at Setsubun, including the Japanese branches of fancy U.S.-based grocer Dean & DeLuca

Even by ehomaki standards, these are some pretty upscale sushi rolls. The first of the three is called the Maguro and Buri Treasures of the Sea Roll, and that honestly doesn’t feel overly dramatic considering what’s inside. Along with tuna and yellowtail (maguro and buri, respectively, in Japanese) there’s crab, sea bream, ikura (salmon roe), and pickled burdock root and mibuna greens.

The Wagyu Roast Beef with Rapeseed Flower and Yuzu Roll is an enticing mix of culinary customs. You get Japanese beef prepared in a Western style, with extra seasoning from zests of yuzu citrus fruit, spicy yuzu kosho citrus chili paste, and ponzu sauce. This ehomaki also has its nori seaweed sheets inside the rice, in the manner in which sushi rolls are often prepared overseas, and is covered with sesame seeds.

And last, mot eye-catching of all is the Shrimp and Salmon Ehomaki. In addition to those marque ingredients, it has sweet tamagoyaki omelet, cucumber, and a line of tobikko (flying fish roe) running along the top of the roll.

Prices start at 1,800 yen (US$13.60) for the Shrimp and Salmon Ehomaki and climb to 2,300 for the Wagyu Roast Beef with Rapeseed Flower and Yuzu Roll and 3,200 for the Treasures of the Sea Roll. They’ll ne offered in limited quantities on February 3 at Dean & DeLuca Japan’s Roppongi, Shinagawa, Yurakucho, Ebisu, Hiro, Kichijoji, Yaesu, Atre Kawasaki, Cial Yokohama, Sogo Yokohama, Nagoya, Sakae, Kyoto, Okayama, Fukuoka, and Amu Plaza Hakata branches, with the same stores also currently taking preorders so you can be guaranteed to get the ehomaki you want and apply the good luck you get from eating it to something else. And if you miss your chance, maybe you can console yourself with a shumai ehomaki.

Related: Dean & DeLuca Japan location finder
Source, photos: PR Times
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