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Thanks for listening and Merry Xmas

On this episode of the Japan Station podcast, we're talking about the fascinating history and culture of soba noodles.

About Dr. Lorie Brau

Dr. Lorie Brau is an assistant professor at the University of New Mexico where she teaches courses on Japanese literature and culture. Dr. Brau has conducted research on a variety of topics, including rakugo and the history and culture of soba noodles. Her research on soba noodles resulted in Soba, Edo Style: Food, Aesthetics, and Cultural Identity, an article which appeared in the book Devouring Japan: Global Perspectives on Japanese Culinary Identity. Currently, Dr. Brau is working on a book called Gourmanga, which focuses on food manga..

Topics Discussed

• What soba is
• Soba's usage as a general word meaning "noodles"
• What distinguishes soba noodles from udon and ramen
• What an Edokko is
• Some of the places soba is closely tied to
• A brief history of soba noodles
• Okinawa soba
• Izuomo soba
• Nishin soba
•  
• Soba's emergence as street food during the Edo period
• Soba's ties to the pleasure quarters of Edo
• The "proper" way to eat soba noodles
• Soba's evolution from street food to refined Japanese cuisine
• What a sobalier (sobarie) is
• What it was like dining at a members-only soba restaurant in Tokyo
• Soba's ties to kabuki
• What iki is
• Soba's link to the concept of iki
• Dr. Brau's research on manga centered around food
• Whether there is a difference between chūka soba and ramen
• Why the word soba can be used to refer to ramen but not udon
• And much more!

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Special Thanks

Opening/Closing song: Oedo Controller (大江戸コントローラー) by Yunomi featuring Toriena (Used with permission from Yunomi)
To listen to more of Yunomi's music, check out his Soundcloud page or YouTube channel.

Japan Station cover art: Provided by Erik R.

Image: Japankyo.com

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Full Show Notes

• Get full show notes at www.japanstationpodcast.com

This episode, we’re sharing a double feature of two episodes that came out WAY BACK in January of 2018 - that’s closing in on two years ago.

Part One of this feature is dedicated to our Iki Japanese bitters, and it includes a really cool phone interview with Jennifer Bloeser of Oregon Coast Wasabi. She is literally the farmer who tends these crazy plants, plucks em out of the dirt, and ships them on ice to our team so that we can create these super unique bitters. We also do a little romp through the culinary history and culture of Japan so that you can understand how this island nation and its cuisine has inspired us.

Part Two is focused on the cocktails (and other alcoholic libations) of the American Frontier. Of course, our Frontier Sarsaparilla Bitters are another really popular member of the Heritage Collection, so in addition to talking about ingredients that are native to North America, we also do a really cool march through the drinking history of our nation from its inception to roughly the year 1900. This sounds like a long time, but when you zoom out and consider the vast sweep of drinking history, it’s a really condensed period when a lot of really important changes happened. And they happened here in America, which makes the cocktail a uniquely American invention.