You might think of ramen as the quintessential Japanese dish, but ramen actually originated in China. There’s another type of noodle that’s native to Japan, called soba. Made from buckwheat flour and water, soba is made by hand through a process that takes years to learn. On New Year's Eve, it is custom for Japanese people to reflect on hardships of the past year and welcome the new year with a clean slate by enjoying a bowl of soba noodles, called Toshikoshi Soba or year-crossing noodle. We visited Sobaya with comedian and host of the “Asian, Not Asian” podcast Fumi Abe to see how the symbolic noodles are made and learn how to eat zaru soba, or cold soba, in which noodles are served on a bamboo platter with a side of sauce or broth.
