|
|
|
||||||
 |
 |
A Health Food of the Mountains Simple Yet Profound A Spiritual Food |
|
A Spiritual Food |
|
Soba was both a food of the people and a sacred food of shrines and temples. Priests and monks were forbidden meat or rice and depended on soba as the mainstay of their diet along with a few vegetables. Togakushi soba, a specialty of a famous mountain village in Nagano Prefecture, originates in this kind of religious diet. Located on a highland 1,200-meters above sea level, Togakushi has been sacred ground for mountain worshippers for more than 1,000 years. Yamabushi, hardy, wandering ascetics, used to roam the mountain paths as a part of their ascetic training, and they carried with them buckwheat seeds that they would grind and knead into a dough with water for their food. This coarse food did not evolve into soba-kiri noodles until some 300 years later. “Togakushi soba was first served with seasonal vegetables to pilgrims who came great distances to worship at the mountain shrines. In the modern era it is common for tourists to make a day trip up to Togakushi just to eat the soba. But really, Togakushi soba is a special dish to be savored on at least an overnight visit, unlike the fast food variety that was so popular in Edo.” So says Yukinari Watanabe, who manages Futabaya, a homemade soba specialty shop in Togakushi. The local volcanic soil has good drainage and the drastic differences in day and night temperatures in this highland region offer the perfect conditions for high-grade soba with a natural sweetness and fragrance. Even soba of such high quality, however, can vary in taste from day to day depending on temperature and handling. “It takes at least ten years to learn how to knead really good soba dough,” Watanabe continues. Quality ingredients, skilled hands, and the correct manner of serving are the necessary conditions for tasty soba. This is not just a traditional dish, but more like an artistic masterpiece in spiritual communication. Thanks to advances in technology, many soba shops today use machines to knead the dough and cut the noodles. Machines make for a lower quality of texture and fragrance, but the soba can be prepared quickly and cheaply. More recently, however, a number of soba shop proprietors are not only preparing their own soba by hand, but in some cases even going so far as growing and milling their own buckwheat. The long and thin soba noodle has also been considered an auspicious food to eat at critical junctures in one’s lifetime because it represents hopes for a long and healthy life and household. Soba has evolved into many forms over the centuries but it remains firmly rooted in Japanese culture and is certain to remain an important part of Japanese cuisine in the future. |
|
|
 Making soba noodles a. 1-2. Adding water to the soba flour Mizumawashi is the process of adding water to the buckwheat flour. The amount of water to be added depends on the temperature and humidity of the moment. The fingers are whisked gently through the flour and water to mix them together. b. 1-2. Kneading Once a ball of dough has been formed, it is kneaded. The dough is repeatedly folded and kneaded to force out any air bubbles and create a smooth, cohesive mass. c. Rolling A wooden rolling pin called a noshi-bo is used to roll out the dough. The dough is wrapped around the pin and rolled repeatedly to create a large mass of uniform thickness. The repeated rolling creates a pattern of fine pitting in the dough that will later make it easier to boil the noodles. d. 1-2. Cutting The final step is cutting the dough into noodles. A broad soba knife and wooden measuring stick are used to cut the rolled- out dough into even strips. Cutting soba noodles takes an expert hand—the final product is, after all, a masterpiece in itself. References Yamagata, Kiyoshi. Nihonjin wa soba no koto o nanimo shiranai [The Japanese know nothing about soba]. Gakken, 2003. Nagayama, Hisao. Nihonjin wa nani o tabete kita no ka [What the Japanese have eaten]. Seishun Publishing Co., Ltd., 2003. Koizumi, Takeo. Shoku ni chie ari [There is wisdom in food]. Nihon Keizai Shimbun, 2002. Special Thanks Handmade soba specialty shop, Futabaya |
|
(Data collected October 2004) |
|
|
 |
