We continue with our upcycling theme this week by considering the nearly extinct nuuttipukki, essentially an ambulatory carpet-cum-mendicant in search of beer and leftover grub–like in food: this is not an eat-the-bugs reference–in Finland. We recently learned of this creature from The Public Domain Review, an excellent publication that serves up some PD gems to its readers on a regular basis. The Review can be found here: https://publicdomainreview.org/collection/nuuttipukki/
Nuuttipukki, which Google Translate renders as “nutty buck,” is a goat-like creature enveloping an unmarried male in search of the comestibles remaining at the end of the holiday season, which in the Finnish case is January 13th. Beer and casseroles could slake these needs. The nutty buck would be more than happy to lap up the dregs at the bottom of beer barrels and chow down on the food offering. Failure to provide the expected fare would apparently result in unpleasant consequences.
In recent years a great deal of attention has been focused on the amount of food that is wasted in Japan. Perhaps periodic “nutty buck” festivals in which participants can obtain food near or slightly past its expiration date might alleviate this problem. Manufacturers and retailers that might otherwise feed the Dumpster could “donate” their products to local communities on such festive occasions and receive good publicity in return, to name just one benefit. This might be especially attractive to brewers, as beer has a rather short shelf life.
Drinking Japan 