Okinawa soba
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is a type of
noodle Noodles are a type of food made from unleavened dough which is either rolled flat and cut, stretched, or extruded, into long strips or strings. Noodles are a staple food in many cultures (for example, Chinese noodles, Filipino noodles, Indo ...
produced in
Okinawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city o ...
,
Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...
. Okinawa soba is a regional collective trademark of The Okinawa Noodle Manufacturing Co-op. On Okinawa, it is sometimes simply called ''
soba Soba ( or , "buckwheat") is a thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat. The noodles are served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or hot in a noodle soup. The variety ''Nagano soba'' includes wheat flour. In Japan, soba noodles can be found i ...
'' (or ''suba'' in Okinawan dialects), although this Japanese term typically refers to
buckwheat Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum''), or common buckwheat, is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. The name "buckwheat" is used for several other species, such as '' Fago ...
noodles in mainland Japan. The thick wheat
noodles Noodles are a type of food made from unleavened dough which is either rolled flat and cut, stretched, or extruded, into long strips or strings. Noodles are a staple food in many cultures (for example, Chinese noodles, Filipino noodles, Indo ...
more closely resemble the texture of
udon Udon ( or ) is a thick noodle made from wheat flour, used in Japanese cuisine. It is a comfort food for many Japanese people. There are a variety of ways it is prepared and served. Its simplest form is in a hot soup as with a mild broth called ...
, and when served in soup, the broth is more similar to that of
ramen is a Japanese dish, Japanese noodle dish. It consists of served in a broth; common flavors are soy sauce and miso, with typical toppings including , nori (dried seaweed), menma (bamboo shoots), and scallions. Ramen has its roots in Chinese ...
. The noodles tend to have a circular cross section in the
Yaeyama Islands The Yaeyama Islands (八重山列島 ''Yaeyama-rettō'', also 八重山諸島 ''Yaeyama-shotō'', Yaeyama: ''Yaima'', Yonaguni: ''Daama'', Okinawan: ''Yeema'', Northern Ryukyuan: ''Yapema'') are an archipelago in the southwest of Okinawa ...
and tend to be slightly flat in the rest of
Okinawa Prefecture is a prefecture of Japan. Okinawa Prefecture is the southernmost and westernmost prefecture of Japan, has a population of 1,457,162 (as of 2 February 2020) and a geographic area of 2,281 km2 (880 sq mi). Naha is the capital and largest city o ...
. It is served in a broth flavored with
konbu ''Konbu'' (from ja, 昆布, konbu or kombu) is edible kelp mostly from the family Laminariaceae and is widely eaten in East Asia. It may also be referred to as ''dasima'' ( ko, 다시마) or ''haidai'' (). Kelp features in the diets of many ...
(edible seaweed),
katsuobushi is simmered, smoked and fermented skipjack tuna (''Katsuwonus pelamis'', sometimes referred to as bonito). It is also known as bonito flakes. ''Katsuobushi'' or similarly prepared fish is also known as . Shaved ''katsuobushi'' and dried ke ...
flakes and pork. Standard toppings are kamaboko (fish cake), sliced
scallion Scallions (also known as spring onions or green onions) are vegetables derived from various species in the genus ''Allium''. Scallions generally have a milder taste than most onions and their close relatives include garlic, shallot, leek, ch ...
and a thick slice of stewed or
soki Soki ( ryu, ソーキ ''sooki'') is a specialty of the cuisine of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Soki are (usually boneless) stewed pork spare ribs, with the cartilage still attached. They are often served with Okinawa soba (called ''suba''). Dishes ...
(boneless pork ribs) and usually garnished with ''
beni shōga is a type of ''tsukemono'' (Japanese pickle). It is made from thin strips of ginger pickled in umezu (), the vinegary pickling solution used to make umeboshi. The red color is traditionally derived from red perilla (''Perilla frutescens'' var. ...
'' (pickled ginger). For extra spice, diners can add a few drops of '' kōrēgūsu'', which consists of
chile pepper Chili peppers (also chile, chile pepper, chilli pepper, or chilli), from Nahuatl '' chīlli'' (), are varieties of the berry-fruit of plants from the genus ''Capsicum'', which are members of the nightshade family Solanaceae, cultivated for t ...
s soaked in
awamori ''Awamori'' (, Okinawan: , āmui'') is an alcoholic beverage indigenous and unique to Okinawa, Japan. It is made from long grain indica rice, and is not a direct product of brewing (like ''sake'') but of distillation (like ''shōchū''). The ...
rice liquor. Varieties include: * ''Sōki soba'' (ソーキそば) - topped with extra ribs, known as
sōki Soki ( ryu, ソーキ ''sooki'') is a specialty of the cuisine of Okinawa Prefecture, Japan. Soki are (usually boneless) stewed pork spare ribs, with the cartilage still attached. They are often served with Okinawa soba (called ''suba''). Dis ...
in Okinawan. * ''Tebichi soba'' (てびちそば) - topped with stewed
pig's trotters A pig's trotter, also known as a pettitoe, or sometimes known as a pig's foot, is the culinary term for the foot of a Domestic pig, pig. The cuts are used in various dishes around the world, and experienced a resurgence in the late 2000s. Descri ...
.


Name

Today the word ''
soba Soba ( or , "buckwheat") is a thin Japanese noodle made from buckwheat. The noodles are served either chilled with a dipping sauce, or hot in a noodle soup. The variety ''Nagano soba'' includes wheat flour. In Japan, soba noodles can be found i ...
'' means buckwheat, in particular buckwheat noodles, in Japanese. This word is in origin an abbreviation of ''soba-mugi'' (buckwheat). The word ''soba'' refers to the edge in ancient Japanese and ''soba-mugi'' meant "edgy wheat". Around the 16th century, buckwheat began to be processed into thin noodles. This method was originally known as ''soba-kiri'' (lit. soba cutting) but it was later abbreviated into ''soba''. Soba was mainly consumed in eastern Japan and was not popular in western Japan or on Okinawa. Buckwheat noodles remain rare on Okinawa, where they are known as ''Nihon soba'' (Japanese soba) or ''kuroi soba'' (black soba). In modern Japan, the meaning of ''soba'' was extended so that it could refer to other types of thin noodles.
Yakisoba ''Yakisoba'' ( ja, 焼きそば ), "fried noodle", is a Japanese noodle stir-fried dish. Usually, soba noodles are made from buckwheat flour, but soba in yakisoba are Chinese noodles (Chuuka soba) made from wheat flour, typically flavored with ...
(stir-fried noodles) contain no buckwheat. ''Shina soba'', commonly known as ''Chūka soba'' (Chinese soba), or rāmen today, is also made from wheat flour. Okinawa soba falls into this category and is made entirely from wheat. Under a fair competition regulation, soba was standardized as "the noodles contain at least 30% of buckwheat." This definition caused a problem when Okinawa was returned to Japanese rule in 1972. In 1976, the Fair Trade Commission tried to make Okinawa Prefecture drop the name "soba" because Okinawa's soba did not conform to the regulation. The Okinawa Noodle Manufacturing Co-op negotiated with the Fair Trade Commission and as a result it was accepted as one of several exceptions under the name of ''Okinawa soba''.


History

Some attempt to trace the origin of Okinawa soba to the
Ryūkyū Kingdom The Ryukyu Kingdom, Middle Chinese: , , Classical Chinese: (), Historical English language, English names: ''Lew Chew'', ''Lewchew'', ''Luchu'', and ''Loochoo'', Historical French name: ''Liou-tchou'', Historical Dutch name: ''Lioe-kioe'' wa ...
period. Chinese delegates possibly brought wheat noodles to the royal court, though no link has been established to the modern Okinawan cuisine. The first known documented reference to Okinawa soba was in 1902 during the late
Meiji period The is an era of Japanese history that extended from October 23, 1868 to July 30, 1912. The Meiji era was the first half of the Empire of Japan, when the Japanese people moved from being an isolated feudal society at risk of colonization ...
when it was known as ''Shina soba'' (Chinese ''soba'') as in mainland Japan. Several soba restaurants are known to have operated in
Naha is the capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan. As of 1 June 2019, the city has an estimated population of 317,405 and a population density of 7,939 persons per km2 (20,562 persons per sq. mi.). The total area i ...
during the Taishō period and to have close links with the red-light district. Soba restaurants were destroyed by U.S. attacks during the
Battle of Okinawa The , codenamed Operation Iceberg, was a major battle of the Pacific War fought on the island of Okinawa by United States Army (USA) and United States Marine Corps (USMC) forces against the Imperial Japanese Army (IJA). The initial invasion of ...
. Its revival began in U.S. internment camps, where wheat rations were supplied. In the 1960s, soba was popularized with the introduction of noodle making machines. The popularization was accompanied by the transformation from a restaurant meal to home cooking. The mainland Japanese custom of eating soba on New Year's Eve was introduced to Okinawa in 1968, but buckwheat noodles were replaced by wheat noodles. Today, Okinawa soba is considered as a vital part of traditional Okinawan culture, although folklorist Nishimura Hidemi argued that it was an
invented tradition Invented traditions are cultural practices that are presented or perceived as traditional, arising from the people starting in the distant past, but which in fact are relatively recent and often even consciously invented by identifiable historical ...
. The soba has been adopted as a local tradition in Campo Grande in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, Brazil, due to the large Okinawan-descended population in the city of 850,000. It's usual to find specialized restaurants along the city serving a local adaptation of the dish due to the difficulty of finding seafish in that region of Brazil.


Notes


External links


Okinawa Noodle Manufacturing Co-op

Fair competition regulation regarding fresh noodles
containing the definition of Okinawa soba (in Japanese). {{DEFAULTSORT:Okinawa Soba Okinawan cuisine Soba Noodle soups Japanese noodle dishes