The thick, wheat flour noodle may seem a tad boring (it was to me when I first arrived here), but just like ramen, it is a serious deal in Japan. Kagawa prefecture, in Shikoku, has even been talking of changing its name to "udon prefecture" since the dish is so famous there.
For 2 days last weekend, representatives from the various udon shops across Japan gather around pots of boiling water, throw in their noodles and cook up some special broths in hopes of taking home top honors in Tokyo's Yoyogi park. Visitors can taste noodles from Akita, Hokkaido, Fukuoka and Okinawa to name a few. I took my three oldest and we had a great time tasting and voting...
these were from Sapporo...and were delicious. Plums, seaweed, and fish were the toppings...
odd combination
Our favorite from Shikoku, a more traditional type with green onion, and egg in a sardine broth
Slurp!
fresh!
Chips on a stick!
Most booths were clearly marked with the area their udon came from
this was out voting card with the udon shop name
and we then put it in the box to coincide with how we felt about the noodles.
Green- not satisfying
Orange- satisfying
Red- very satisfying
They were without question the best noodles we have had to date here!
The children loved all the dancing that was going on at the park with the festival. There were countless performers, and it was just fascinating to see all the costumes, and to people watch that day.
always ready to pose
We had the best afternoon! Great food, great people...in a crazy city.
festivals in japan are serious business, aren't they? love all the formality and presentation and work that seems to go into them. something gorgeous about it, more so to me than a parade with fire trucks and bands and tissue paper floats, as lovely as that is. serious udon envy too, they look utterly delish.
ReplyDeleteThey really are. They love their culture, and tradition is huge. It's nothing like America. I may go through udon withdrawal when I go back...
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