Across the Globe without a Plane
Zarusoba at Honke Owariya
Watching Spartacus on the late night movie got me thinking about what it would actually take to do as the Romans, and how it would probably be rather uncouth here in Kyoto. Which begs the question: what do they, the Kyoto-ans, actually do, that makes this relatively small ex-capital of Japan so special?
Kyoto, whose current name is actually pretty straightforward, boring even, means metropolitan capital, though it was once known as capital of peace, and now it is only the capital of the eponymous prefecture and the cultural heart of Kansai, the area name of the southwestern half of Japan, which includes Osaka, Kobe and Nara. The city itself, located in the Yamashiro basin buffetted by three mountains, creatively dubbed Mts. North, East and West, is notable for its hot humid summers and cold windy winters, yet the prefecture’s far northern border-the Japan Sea- is temperately mild and boasts Amanohashidate-the thin strip of land connecting the two bays of Miyazu, one of the infamous Three Scenic Views.
Located at the convergence of three rivers and three mountains, basically a geological drain, the city was so strategically laid out atop an aquifer more than fifteen hundred years ago that with the mass somatic requirements modernization obliges is it only the past few boom decades that she is experiencing a bit of shortage. Despite what few foresee as a real problem, the water in Kyoto is what has helped shape more than a few restaurants into flagships for the real foodie center of Japan.
One of those restaurants is Owariya. Watching the staff make stock and noodles at six in the morning is an impressive thing to see. Knowing they do this everyday is simply amazing. Understanding that this has gone on the same way more or less without fail (except for the annoying Onin war) for 546 years is mind-numbing.
As the 15th generation owner Denzaemon Inaoka put it, “It’s all about the Dashi.”
The recipe for dashi is no secret:
Yet the secret to great dashi is high quality ingredients and disciplined preparation. The Owariya recipe:
Preparation:
What about the Buckwheat?
Perhaps surprisingly, Asian buckwheat is a plant (genus Fagopyrum, family Polygonaceae – along with sorrel and rhubarb) and not a cereal like wheat, and therefore contains no gluten. The sunflower-esque seed within the husk is the only part used to make buckwheat flour or sobako, an essential ingredient in the Japanese noodle industry.
Depending on who you ask, buckwheat originated in either southeast or central Asia and then spread through the middle east via the Moors, whom then introduced it into Europe during the Crusades (hence the nickname Sarrasin in France) where it arrived in the 15th century and became particularly popular in Bretagne, due to adapting well in poor soil and requiring little fertilizer to grow quickly. Though buckwheat is a hearty plant that does not necessitate the use of pesticides, it is best grown in the damp temperate climates of Russia, Poland, Canada and Japan.
The somewhat bitter tasting flour, revered as a living food by the Japanese, is used to make flat breads and pancakes known as bourriols in Bretange and Cantal as well as a couscous or porridge called kasha, often eaten for breakfast throughout Eastern Europe.
A natural source of protein, containing the eight essential amino acids as well as high amounts of magnesium and calcium, it is rich in antioxidants and fiber, thus promoting healthy digestion and intestinal passage. It is rumored that the favorite food of the inventor of the Washlet Japanese toilet, an employee of the world’s largest toilet manufacturer, Toto, was soba noodles, though that is a tenuous connection at best.
Men At Work
Making great soba is one thing, combining it with better dashi is another, and staying in business through multiple wars, major economic downturns and the introduction of fast food to Japan is extraordinary, but could it be that climate change will be a deciding factor in how the future of soba in Japan plays out?
According to inside sources, with temperatures noticeably rising in 2008 and 2009, both years were record lows for buckwheat crops worldwide. Hence the global rush to stockpile the starchy flour, especially in the Japanese market, whose customers tend to be picky about their noodles and where the crops grow. The difference in price between a bag of buckwheat flour from Japan and China is embarrassingly wide and likely to draw skeptical looks from otherwise loyal Kyoto customers, largely due to recent Chinese food imports being implicated in widespread public health scandals.
So with the relatively resilient and fast-growing buckwheat crops at an all-time low in Japan, where does a Kyoto institution turn to for answers?
Apparently it’s Canada. Manitoba, the “buckwheat capitol of Canada,” has a somewhat similar climate as Nagano and Hokkaido, where some of the best buckwheat in Japan grows, and there’s plenty of it to spread around. It sounds better to say Canadian Buckwheat Flour than Chinese At least until we solve this annoying climate change dip in the road and can get back to business as usual, Kyoto-ans will have to do like the rest of the world for a while and learn to appreciate what they have.
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