Seasonings of Shimane

With Izumo soba, you pour the broth directly over noodles already in the bowl. Because nothing gets dipped, the broth has to land with full strength and aroma from the first mouthful. The stacked wari-ko bowls came out of eating it this way.

Okuizumo is mountain country that grew wealthy on tatara ironmaking. Producing iron meant managing the forests and the water, and the worked-out sites were turned into rice fields. That habit of unhurried, hands-on work still shows in how shoyu (soy sauce) is made here.

• Wari-ko soba, eaten with broth poured on, demands a stronger broth
• Hands-on work that survives in the old tatara ironmaking country