Japanese Beat the Summer Heat with Appetite-Reviving Chilled Noodles

In a survey on summer dishes conducted in Japan by the website Rakuten Recipes, 27% of respondents said they wanted to eat “hearty food to boost stamina,” but nearly three times as many, at an overwhelming 73%, preferred to have “refreshing, chilled noodles.” With the searing heat leading to waning appetites, noodles that are easy to eat and enjoyably cooling, were an outright winner. At 78%, women particularly rated chilled noodles highly, in comparison to 68% of men.

Asked what kind of refreshing noodle dishes they wanted to eat in summer (with multiple responses possible), the top two by far were hiyashi chūka chilled ramen with 1,986 votes and sōmen with 1,930 votes. This was followed by soba with 1,417 votes and reimen Korean-style noodles with 1,174 votes.

The stamina-boosting dish people wanted to eat most was “unagi/unadon” (eel/eel on rice), which received 1,451 votes. It was a long way ahead of “nebanebadon” rice dishes, which gained 1,119 votes. These combine rice with nebaneba (sticky) foods such as tororo grated yam, nattō, and okra.

When respondents were asked what ingredient they would like to eat in summer, the most popular, with 841 votes, was “tomato.” “Cucumber” and “eggplant” were also very popular, an indication that many people wanted to eat summer vegetables to stay in good condition.

The survey, aimed at users of Rakuten Recipes, was conducted between the end of June and early July and received responses from 2,976 people.

Data Sources

• Survey on summer dishes (Japanese) from Rakuten Recipes.

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo © Pixta.)