Abstract
A questionnaire survey was conducted among 2,633 university and college students in Japan to investigate the custom of eating Zoni. Ninety two percent of the students ate Zoni during the period from January 1 st to 6 th in 2002. Natural ingredients were used by 60.4% of the students to prepare the soup for Zoni.
Soy sauce was the most used seasoning for Zoni, with soybean paste being used in the Kinki district, and in Tokushima, Kagawa and Fukui prefectures.
The results of a CHAID analysis show that Zoni can be classified into two main groups, i. e., containing and without chicken. These two groups can be divided into two sub-groups, i. e., Zoni containing round-shaped rice cakes and that containing square-shaped rice cakes. These two subgroups can each being further divided into eight categories as follows: Zoni-containing tuna flakes, dried mushroom, gobo roots, or fish cake and that without each of these ingredients.
