Soba is a national Japanese dish in the form of long brownish-gray noodles made from buckwheat flour. Known since the mid-16th century, before which Japanese people would eat whole buckwheat groats. As the noodles are made from buckwheat flour, which can easily crumble during the preparation, a bit of wheat flour is added to prevent this. First, the dough is made, then rolled out and cut into narrow strips with a special knife, and then boiled. According to Japan’s agricultural standards, only those noodles containing at least 30% buckwheat can be called soba.