Sobá

Not to be confused with Soba.

Sobá is a dish from the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso do Sul that is an adaption of Okinawa soba. It is made with wheat noodles, beef, green onion, and omelette strips. The dish is extremely popular in Campo Grande, the capital city of Mato Grosso do Sul, where it is a recognized symbol of the city and the subject of an annual festival.

Sobá

Three bowls of sobá served at the Central Fair of Campo Grande [pt]
Type	Noodle soup
Place of origin	Okinawa, Japan (origin) Brazil (adaptation)
Region or state	Mato Grosso do Sul
Associated cuisine	Brazilian cuisine
Main ingredients	Noodles (wheat flour), meat-based broth, beef, omelette strips, and green onion

Origin and background

The modern day Brazilian sobá is an adaption of the soba that Okinawan immigrants to Brazil brought with them when they arrived in Campo Grande. Okinawan immigrants arrived in Campo Grande in 1914, 15 years after the foundation of the city in 1899.^[1] As of 2023, Campo Grande has the 3rd largest Japanese Brazilian and 2nd largest Okinawan Brazilian community in Brazil with 11,000 people of Japanese descent. 70% of Campo Grande's Japanese Brazilian community is of Okinawan descent.^[2]

According to the Okinawa Association of Campo Grande (Associação Okinawa de Campo Grande), prominent Okinawan immigrant Eiho Tomoyose was the first to serve soba in Campo Grande at his bar in the 1950s. Despite initially only serving the Okinawan community in the area, Tomoyose was serving his soba at the Central Fair of Campo Grande [pt] to Brazilians by the mid-1960s.^[3] The dish became so popular that it soon became the principal attraction at the fair's eatery.^[1]

The modern-day sobá that is found in Campo Grande and throughout Brazil has been adapted to the Brazilian palate by substituting the traditional pork for beef and changing the seasoning of the broth. Sobá also substitutes the traditional buckwheat soba noodles with ones made of wheat flour and includes green onion and omelette strips.^[1][4]

Cultural impact

 

The Sobá Monument in the Central Fair of Campo Grande [pt], location of the annual Sobá Festival.

Campo Grande

On 10 August 2006, sobá was registered with the National Institute of Historic and Artistic Heritage as an Intangible Cultural Property (Bem Cultural de Natureza Imaterial) of Campo Grande by Municipal Degree n° 9.685 of 18 July 2006.^[5][4][6][3]

A contest started on 21 October 2017 to determine the representative dish (prato típico) of Campo Grande presented residents with the choice between arroz carreteiro [pt], espetinhos, and sobá. After the voting period closed on 21 January 2018, sobá won by winning 41% of the over 15,000 votes. Arroz carreteiro [pt] and espetinhos came in at 27% and 32% of the vote, respectively.^[7][4]

On 7 August 2018, the owners of 70 Campo Grande sobá restaurants met with Campo Grande officials to officially determine a recipe for sobá. At this meeting, they also discussed the possibility of creating an official seal that restaurants could display to show that they serve the official sobá recipe.^[5]

Sobá Festival

The first Sobá Festival (Festival do Sobá) was held in Campo Grande in 2010.^[3] The event is held annually in August in the Central Fair of Campo Grande. The festival has events like live music, dancing, and workshops to show the cultural wealth that Japanese, indigenous, gaucho and Center-West Brazilians have contributed to Campo Grande.The festival is a popular attraction in the city and drives domestic tourism.^[2][3][8]

The state government of Mato Grosso do Sul estimated that the 2023 festival would be attended by 100,000 people over the five days of the festival.^[2]

Japanese reaction

In 2018, a news segment on the Japanese Ryukyu Broadcasting Corporation compared the differences between the traditional Okinawan Soba and the sobá from Mato Grosso do Sul.^[9]

References

1. Associação Okinawa de Campo Grande - MS (2019). "Chapter V – Feira Central – Okinawa Sobá" [Chapter V - Central Fair - Okinawa Sobá]. Terra de Esperança Kibo no Daitsi 希望の大地 [Land of Hope] (PDF). Campo Grande, MS: Life Editora. pp. 554–556. ISBN 978-85-8150-237-3.
2. de Camargo Fernandes, Paulo (10 August 2023). "Na abertura do 16º Festival do Sobá, MS e Okinawa reforçam aproximação cultural e comercial" [At the opening of the 16th Sobá Festival, MS and Okinawa strengthen cultural and commercial ties]. Governo de Mato Grosso do Sul. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
3. Katayama, Juliene (6 August 2015). "Sobá é patrimônio no Pantanal, tema de festival e cai no gosto do turista" [Sobá is a Pantanal heritage site, festival theme and tourist attraction]. G1 MS (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-02-26.
4. "Sobá é eleito em votação popular como prato típico de Campo Grande" [Sobá elected in popular vote as typical dish of Campo Grande]. A Tribuna News (in Brazilian Portuguese). 1 March 2018. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
5. "Sobarias de Campo Grande se reúnem para discutir preservação da receita do prato típico da cidade" [Campo Grande's restaurants that serve Sobá meet to discuss preserving the recipe for the city's typical dish]. G1 MS (in Brazilian Portuguese). 7 August 2018. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
6. "Bens Tombados em Campo Grande - Esfera Municipal" (PDF). Governo de Mato Grosso do Sul.
7. "Sobá, espetinho e arroz carreteiro disputam concurso de prato típico de Campo Grande" [Sobá, espetinho and arroz carreteiro compete in Campo Grande's typical dish contest]. G1 MS (in Brazilian Portuguese). 21 October 2017. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
8. "Festival do Sobá começa hoje com show gratuito e apresentações culturais em Campo Grande" [Sobá Festival starts today with free concerts and cultural presentations in Campo Grande]. G1 (in Brazilian Portuguese). 9 August 2023. Retrieved 2024-02-26.
9. Teodoro, Kimberly (6 September 2018). "TV japonesa compara Sobá de MS a original e faz zoeira com jeito de usar hashi" [Japanese TV compares Sobá from Mato Grosso do Sul to the original and makes fun of the way chopsticks are used]. Campo Grande News (in Brazilian Portuguese). Retrieved 2024-02-25.