Hi everyone!

Happy new year or “akemashite omedetou gozaimasu”, as we would say in Japan!

We japanese, have a habit of eating soba ( Buckwheat noodles) in the evening of the 31st of Dec just before 12 am.

I have been abroad since I was 16 years old but I always had Soba noodles at the end of the year even when I was in Mexico.

Tradition of eating soba started in 1800, and has a few meanings which my grandmother taught me;

• Soba noodles are easy to cut in your mouth so think of something bad happened during this year and cut and chew soba to get rid of them and start a brand new year.
• Soba is a kind of  healthy noodles, so think of having a healthy life in the new year.

I remember my grandmother cooked Soba for me and all my cousins ( 13 cousins in total!) every year and I always helped her to cook and serve so I could have it first.

Soba is a very light, healthy dish as well as very filling, and which has only 350 kcal per person.

I was hoping to have a healthy, positive year in 2013 when I was eating last night and also remembered of my grandmother who kept the tradition habit every year.

Makiko

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