Soba is a traditional Japanese food. Along with rice, it has been one of the staple foods of Japanese people from ancient times. In Japanese, it is usually displayed in the hiragana syllabary as そばSoba.
Soba is made from the fruit of the Buckwheat plant. The Buckwheat fruit is dried and ground into powder. Then, water is added to this powder and the resulting dough is kneaded and then stretched out and flattened into a sheet. This sheet is then cut into narrow strips and boiled to make soba noodles. Soba is normally eaten in 2 ways: もりMori and かけKake.
もりそば Mori-soba is placed on a wooden tray called Seiro and then eaten after being dipped into a cold soup called つゆTsuyu. This is the style James uses when eating soba in this YouTube video. This is the most traditional style.
かけそば Kake-soba is placed in a china bowl called Donburi. Heated Tsuyu is poured into the bowl onto the soba noodles and the noodles are eaten together along with the soup. Usually, Kake-soba is eaten with various toppings such as Tenpura and eggs. The toppings menu contains many other possible toppings.
Soba is one of the favorite foods of Japanese people, and そば屋 [Sobaya (Soba-restaurant)] can be found everywhere. They are located I train stations, entertainment districts and stalls where customers eat standing up called 立食いそば屋Tachigui-sobaya (Standing Soba stall). Soba might be considered a type of fast food similar to hamburgers in the U.S.
Fast, cheap and delicious Soba restaurants display the そば Soba sign.
Takayuki Musha