Important Soba on New Year's Eve 2024: From Japan

At last, it's New Year's Eve, and today I'm going to make soba for lunch. The soba eaten on this day is called toshikoshi soba, or "year-crossing soba," a tradition that dates back to the Edo period.

The reason for eating soba on New Year's Eve is that people hope to live long lives, like the long and slender shape of the noodles. Also, since soba is easy to cut, it symbolizes cutting off hardships and disasters, leaving them behind in the old year.

Originally, soba was considered a celebratory meal to enjoy on New Year's Eve night. However, nowadays, people often eat it any time during the day. Many people visit soba restaurants on this day, and I think this change happened because it’s more convenient to be able to eat soba at any time on New Year's Eve. Since soba restaurants can make more business this way, it seems that eating toshikoshi soba anytime during the day on New Year's Eve has become the new custom.

Today, I’m going to enjoy toshikoshi soba noodles for lunch. I bought soba noodles made from 100% soba flour. But why am I eating soba for lunch? Well, I think you can guess the reason—I want to save room to enjoy some delicious food for dinner later!

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