I’ve recently gotten out of the habit of eating udon much (even though I love it) and have started eating soba more, as it has higher nutritional value.
When I was a child, soba felt bitter and dry to me, and I couldn’t really grow to like it. But my, how delicious soba is these days.
I sometimes buy soba at an Oriental market run by Koreans. The store I go to carries several varieties of both Korean-made and Japanese-made soba lined up on the shelves. Most packages contain several bundles and cost around 6-8 dollars.
Soba I Recently Bought
The soba I recently bought is “Joshu-san Cha Soba” (Green Tea Soba from Joshu). “Joshu” refers to the region that is present-day Gunma Prefecture, which is known as a soba-producing area and apparently has many soba restaurants lined up along its streets.
Personally, I have never been to Gunma Prefecture. As I write this, I thought that if I ever get the chance, I’d like to visit. When my daughter goes to Japan, she gets to stay with relatives, so it seems she had already made her soba restaurant debut in Gunma Prefecture long before I ever could.
Anyway, back to soba.
For me, having been prone to anemia since long ago, the first thing my eyes go to on the nutritional label on the back of the package is iron content.
The amount one person eats in one serving is one bundle — this “serving size.” One bundle contains 2.6mg of iron, meaning you can get a considerable portion of your daily iron intake from a single bowl of soba.
The Law of Attraction – Soba
The day after I bought the soba, I went to a certain public facility, and since there were magazines in the waiting room, I flipped through one casually. And what do you know — there was a timely article about soba right there.
How about that … I’ve long had a tendency to attract things like this.
Being a Bon Appétit magazine, the photos were simple and beautiful — or rather, they made the food look absolutely delicious.
I had completely forgotten, but this time I think I’ll try topping mine with grated daikon radish too. I can look forward to even greater nutritional benefits.
Reference
National Institutes of Health Office of Dietary Supplements, (2023), Iron, NIH, https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/Iron-Consumer/
