Noodles ── Soba
Kawari Soba
Kawari-soba — soba dough flavored or colored with a second ingredient kneaded in
Soba whose dough has a second ingredient — tea, egg, wild greens, and the like — kneaded in for color or aroma. Noodles with especially vivid color are singled out and called irimono. The oldest known example is said to be tamago-sobakiri, an egg noodle from the Edo period, and the practice is said to have flourished as a playful variation during the Bunka-Bunsei era.
Lineage
What it's made of
Kawari-soba starts from ordinary soba dough with a second ingredient kneaded in — tea, egg, or the pressed juice of wild greens, among others. The color and aroma shift with whatever is added, and noodles striking enough to look at are singled out and called irimono. Not every variation is said to have been made purely for taste.
How it's made
Whatever lends the color or aroma — ground or pressed — is worked into the dough while it is being made. The pale, refined dough of sarashina flour is said to have taken color especially well, which is why it was often chosen as the base for kawari-soba. Getting that color to come through evenly is said to have been where a maker's skill showed.
Why it took this shape
The oldest kawari-soba on record from the Edo period is said to be tamago-sobakiri, an egg noodle. During the Bunka-Bunsei era (1804–30), when food culture reached a kind of maturity, varieties such as yuzu-flavored, green tea, and mugwort noodles are said to have been devised one after another — evidence, it is said, that by this point kawari-soba was enjoyed less for practical reasons than simply for play.
Before you go
- How to read a ticket machineShops that use a ticket machine (shokken-ki) often place their most popular items in a similar spot.
- Station food and ekiben (station bento)Where and when to find ekiben (station bento) before it sells out, etiquette for eating on board, how standing soba and udon stalls work, and where to find souvenirs sold inside the station.
- Foods to look for in summerA guide to foods often seen in Japan around summer — eel on the Day of the Ox, hiyashi chuka, somen, shaved ice, edamame with beer, and hamo — with rough pointers for finding them.
Dishes in the same style
- Baniku SobaFrom the Aso area of Kumamoto: hot soba topped with horse meat simmered sweet and salty. It's said to carry the history of a region where horse meat took root as a restorative food for the injured and ill.
- Cha SobaA kawari-soba made by kneading powdered green tea, often matcha, into the buckwheat dough. It takes on a faint green tint along with tea's own aroma. It is said to be one of the playful noodle variations devised during the Bunka-Bunsei era (1804–30), alongside yuzu-flavored soba.
Ingredients and dishes from this land
Derived style
- Cha SobaA kawari-soba made by kneading powdered green tea, often matcha, into the buckwheat dough. It takes on a faint green tint along with tea's own aroma. It is said to be one of the playful noodle variations devised during the Bunka-Bunsei era (1804–30), alongside yuzu-flavored soba.
- YuzukiriA kawari-soba made by grating yuzu citrus peel into the buckwheat dough. The fruit's aroma is said to layer over buckwheat's own scent as the noodle's main appeal. It is said to be one of the playful variations devised during the Bunka-Bunsei era (1804–30), alongside cha-soba.