SOBA CLASS at the TSUKIJI SOBA ACADEMY

Me and Chef Akyla Inouye.

My bowl of soba prepared by Chef Inouye.

Chef Inouye has been working with soba for almost 20 years and his passion can be noticed during his demonstration. Each detail is very important pretty much like everything  in the Japanese culture. And finally I was there, at the Tsukiji Soba Academy, learning how to prepare soba the traditional way. I was so excited! Joining me in the class were two japanese students so the class was in Japanese with english translation by Chef Inouye himself. I was divided between taking notes and pictures. After Chef Inouye's demonstration we had to prepare our own soba at our tables. Chef Inouye was assisting me while his helper assisted the other two students. His support during my preparation was perfect! He is a very good instructor for sure. Making soba requires hard work, especially if you do it in the traditional way! I could feel my arms where hurting at the end. But I did it! And it was definitely a great experience!

Chef Inouye prepara soba faz 20 anos e sua paixao pode ser observada durante sua demonstracao. Cada detalhe e' muito importante como em todas as coisas da cultura japonesa. E finalmente eu estava la' na Academia de Soba de Tsukiji aprendendo a preparar soba da forma tradicional. Euestava super feliz! Tambem na aula estavam mais dois alunos japoneses entao a aula foi em japones com traducao em ingles pelo proprio Chef Inouye. Eu estava dividida entre fazer anotacoes e tirar fotos. Depois da demonstracao do Chef Inouye tivemos que preparar nosso proprio soba nas nossas mesas. Chef Inouye estava me acompanhando enquanto seu assistente acompanhava os outros dois estudantes. A ajuda dele durante o preparo foi perfeita! Ele realmente e' um otimo instrutor. Preparar soba e' um trabalho pesado principalmente na maneira tradicional. Eu senti meus bracos doloridos no final. Mas consegui! E esta foi definitivamente uma experiencia maravilhosa!