Japanese festival food: yakisoba

A staple of most Japanese festivals is the yakisoba food stall. You can pick up yakisoba at at least one food stall at a Japanese festival. And that includes all the different types of festivities for New Years. It is coming up to the season of traditional New Year events. For example, Daruma markets. A lot of the larger Daruma Markets are like a festival and have various stalls, not just Daruma stalls. Among the food choices you are bound to find yakisoba.

Photo: A woman makes yakisoba at a food stall at a festival.

Yakisoba is a Japanese noodle dish, but its quite like the Chinese chow mein dish.  Soba is a type of noodle made from buckwheat, but the soba in 'yakisoba' is actually different. It is a Chinese style noodle known as chuukamen or chuka soba. The noodles are stir fried with vegetables and are crispy on the outside. The vegetables used can depend on the chef, but you will find most come with cabbage, spring onion and beansprouts. Carrot is very common too. They are typically seasoned with a thick sweet sauce similar to Worcestershire sauce. Usually they come with a side of red pickles.

Have you tried yakisoba at a festival? Did you like them?