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Drink · Japan
Nihonshu
Japanese sake, a fermented beverage made from rice, koji and water. It is an official geographical indication of Japan and is served chilled, at room temperature, or warm, in small cups.
Flavors · Fukui
Echizen oroshi soba
Cold soba with grated daikon radish, quite spicy, cold broth, katsuobushi and green onion. It’s the most eaten soba in Fukui, served at weddings, at the end of the year and at winter Buddhist ceremonies.
Traditional dish from Fukui
Also known as: Oroshi soba, Echizen soba, 越前おろしそば, おろしそば
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Echizen oroshi soba — Fukui, Japan
Oroshi soba is cold soba, rinsed in ice water, served with grated daikon radish (oroshi), cold dashi-and-shoyu broth, dried bonito flakes (katsuobushi) and green onion. In Fukui they prefer a spicy radish, the Echizen karami daikon. There are three ways to serve it: broth and radish on the side, the radish mixed into the broth, or only the radish juice in the broth.
According to the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, the history of soba in Fukui goes back to the late 15th century, when Lord Asakura, in Ichijodani, ordered buckwheat planted as a reserve for wartime because it grows quickly and keeps well. In the early 17th century, a lord who took charge of Fuchu, today Echizen, brought soba cooks, and the thin soba with grated radish spread. The name Echizen oroshi soba became known nationwide after Emperor Showa tasted and praised Fukui’s soba.
Oroshi soba is present at important moments. It’s served at the end of weddings and Buddhist ceremonies, as the New Year’s soba and as the evening meal at Hoonko, the major annual ceremony of the Jodo Shinshu Buddhist school, between autumn and New Year. In Fukui, it is eaten cold even in winter.
The prefecture uses local buckwheat, stone-milled. There are many soba houses in Fukui, and during harvest season several towns hold new-soba festivals.
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Where it comes from
Fukui
The most eaten soba in Fukui.
Ingredients
Fukui buckwheat soba, grated daikon radish (karami daikon), cold dashi-and-shoyu broth, katsuobushi, green onion.
How it is eaten
Cold, with the radish and broth served on top or on the side, depending on the restaurant.
When it is eaten
All year, including winter; weddings, Buddhist ceremonies, Hoonko and New Year’s; new-soba in autumn.
Your questions
Questions about Echizen oroshi soba
Is Echizen oroshi soba served cold or hot?
It’s served cold, including in winter. The soba comes with grated daikon radish, cold broth, dried bonito flakes and green onion.
When is oroshi soba eaten in Fukui?
All year, and especially at weddings, Buddhist ceremonies, on New Year’s and at the major winter Buddhist ceremony Hoonko. In autumn, several towns hold new-soba festivals.
Flavors of Japan
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Dish · Hiroshima
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Dish · Iwate
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Drink · Kagoshima
Satsuma shochu
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Sweet · Kagoshima
Shirokuma
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Dish · Kanazawa
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Dish · Kochi
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Dish · Miyajima
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Dish · Miyazaki
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Iya soba
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Dish · Nagano
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Dumpling made from wheat flour, sometimes mixed with buckwheat, filled with vegetables seasoned with miso or soy sauce, or with sweet bean paste; baked, steamed, or both. A dish from Nagano, from mountain villages.
Dish · Nagasaki
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Sweet · Nagasaki
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Miso-nikomi udon
Firm udon, made without salt, cooked in an earthenware pot in a dark soy miso (haccho miso) broth, with chicken, fried tofu, scallion and egg. A dish from Nagoya and Aichi.
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Awamori
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Okinawa soba
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Dish · Osaka
Takoyaki
Dough balls made from flour, egg and dashi with pieces of octopus, cooked on a griddle with round hollows and topped with sauce, mayonnaise, seaweed and dried bonito flakes. It’s Osaka’s best-known flavor.
Dish · Kyoto
Saba-zushi
Salted and vinegar-marinated mackerel sushi on a rice log, wrapped in bamboo sheath. A celebratory dish of Kyoto, tied to the Saba Kaido, the route that brought mackerel from the Wakasa Sea.
Dish · Sendai
Gyutan
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Dish · Shiga
Funazushi
Nigorobuna carp from Lake Biwa, salted and fermented for months with rice: an ancient form of sushi with a strong taste and aroma. A dish from Shiga, deeply rooted in the prefecture’s culture.
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Izumo soba
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Dish · Tóquio
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Beyond the guide
