Haruka Ota’s Toshikoshi Soba

Every New Year’s, freshman Haruka Ota eats toshikoshi soba with her family. According to Ota, toshikoshi roughly means “to jump from the old year into the new.” The soup is eaten by many Japanese people during the New Year. Every variation of the soup has some type of broth as well as soba noodles, but from there they can vary greatly.Ota’s family recipe includes fried mochi, which they cut, bake, and place inside the broth, adding a distinctive touch to the dish.

“The soups that we make can have anything you want in them. It doesn’t always have to have tofu and seaweed, you can add other things inside. So sometimes we add fish, and if you’re feeling different you can add carrots, even carrots and meat, and make it a bit more brothy,” Ota said.

According to Ota, soba noodles represent longevity in Japanese culture.

“You add soba noodles in it, or some sort of noodles, because [in Japanese tradition] and other traditions, noodles represent health and long life. So that’s why you eat it [during] New Year’s,” Ota said.

Ota and her mother make the dish together every New Year’s to preserve the tradition that Ota’s grandmother began.

“My grandmother used to make this dish for us, because before she would come over to the U.S. and make this dish for us, but now she’s too old, so she can’t come. But those are some fond memories I have,” Ota said.