Japanese Noodle Waterslide
Somen are a Japanese wheat noodle which are usually eaten cold, with a dipping sauce. During the summer, they're occasionally eaten out of a long bamboo trough flowing with fish or seaweed broth in which diners must pluck the noodles with chopsticks as fast as they can. As added pressure, noodles that aren’t caught by the time they get to the end usually aren’t eaten. Also, some high-end somen restaurants run this whole operation out of a real stream, so diners can enjoy the beauty of nature while they dive for their noodles.
Sounds like a stressful way to eat for us, but if you're interested in trying the somen experience at home, you can replicate the experience by purchasing your very own battery-operated noodle slide for $118 US. And, as a bonus, they let you keep the noodles you don't catch.
—Paula Forbes
