What is Mochi?
The ball cakes known as mochi are round buns made of soft and chewy rice.
The rice is first steamed and then pounded and mashed.
The resulting sticky rice mass is then formed into the final stage which is in mochi shape and then baked or boiled.
The families, traditionally celebrate New Year by cooking a vegetable broth in which they heat the mochi.
Two people have died in Japan and several are in a critical condition after choking on traditional rice cakes as part of the new year celebrations.
They may seem harmless, but each year the hard-to-eat snack claims several lives, prompting annual warnings from officials.
How do Mochi take life ?
Mochi are chewy and sticky. They are far bigger than bite-sized, they need to be laboriously chewed before swallowing.
Anyone who can't chew properly [children, elderly people] will be likely to find them hard to consume.
If not chewed but simply swallowed, the sticky mochi gets stuck in the throat and can lead to suffocation.
According to Japanese media, 90% of those rushed to hospital from choking on their new year's dish are people aged 65 or older.
A safe way to eat them?
Chew, chew, chew and chew. If that's not possible, the rice cakes need to be cut into smaller pieces.
Every year, authorities issue public warnings in the run-up to the new year festivities advising that people especially the very young and elderly ones should only eat mochi cut down to smaller little chunks.
Yet despite the warnings, each year there continue to be deaths linked to the dish. CONTINUE READING
SOURCE: BBC NEWS
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