Soba

Soba

Soba (そば or 蕎麦, "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 in a variety of settings, from "fast food" places to expensive specialty restaurants. Markets sell dried noodles and men-tsuyu, or instant noodle broth, to make home preparation easy. There are a wide variety of dishes, both hot for winter and cold for summer, using these noodles. Soba can nutritionally complement other grains like white rice and wheat flour. Thiamine, missing from white rice, is present in soba. Soba contains all nine essential amino acids, including lysine, which is lacking in wheat flour. The tradition of eating soba arose in the Edo period.

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