🍜 Kate-soba

The "Kate" in the name refers to ingredients used to increase volume. This regional cuisine was created with the purpose of increasing the volume by adding daikon and nira (garlic chives). The practice of using daikon in the winter and soft nira in the early spring to improve the flavor while increasing the volume is said to have been started by common people when food was scarce. About 40 years ago, when nira cultivation began to flourish in Kanuma City, "Nira Soba" (garlic chive buckwheat noodles) became commercialized at a soba shop and since then has been offered at many shops throughout the city. "Nira Soba" was established around Kanuma City, and "Daikon Soba" was established around Sano City. According to the results of a survey by the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Tochigi prefecture is the third largest producer of soba in Japan, and it is an essential cuisine for both daily life and special events. Kanuma City and the surrounding area used to produce hemp as well. "Asa-Ato Soba" (after-hemp soba) made from the buckwheat planted to restore nutrients to the soil after the hemp harvest. The hemp production is smaller today, but buckwheat continues to be cultivated, and a large amount of nira are produced, resulting in "Kanuma Nira Soba."