Why Is It OK to Slurp Noodles in Japan?

The short answer

In Japan, too, eating noisily is generally considered bad manners. Noodles are the one exception: in ramen shops and soba (buckwheat noodle) restaurants, lots of people slurp away noisily.

Two reasons are commonly given. One is that soba was a "fast food" that ordinary people in Edo (today's Tokyo) ate in a hurry at street stalls. The other is that slurping, which draws in air along with the noodles, makes the aroma easier to taste. But slurping is not compulsory. Eating quietly is perfectly fine.

Making noise is normally a no-no in Japan too

The first thing to know is that Japanese people do not eat everything noisily. According to an article on nippon.com by a soba-loving food writer, noisy eating is generally frowned upon in Japan as well, especially on formal occasions.

Noodles alone get a "special exemption", and that is what surprises visitors from abroad. The same article points out that noodle dishes exist all over the world, from spaghetti to Chinese noodles, but there are almost no countries where slurping is clearly accepted.

It started at the soba stalls of Edo

Soba first appears in historical records around the start of the Edo period (1603-1868). By the end of the 17th century, soba shops were multiplying in Edo, and soba, which began as a side item on udon menus, eventually became a speciality of the city. Around 1800, Edo reportedly had about 700 soba shops, second in number only to drinking places (izakaya).

Edo at the time was a huge city of about one million people. Busy townspeople bought soba from stalls or from "yotaka soba" vendors, who carried their wares on a shoulder pole through the streets at night, ate it quickly standing up, and went back to work. GO TOKYO, Tokyo's official tourism website, describes soba, alongside sushi and tempura, as the townspeople's "iki fast food". "Iki" is a word for the Edo native's sense of style: clean, unfussy and cool.

One reason soba became popular in Edo was nutrition. Buckwheat has more protein and B vitamins than refined wheat flour, and it grows quickly, taking only two and a half to three months from sowing to harvest. Mr Horii, the soba restaurant owner introduced below, says that the need for quick, nourishing meals in a fiercely competitive big city may be one reason soba took root in Edo while udon remained the star in Kansai (Kyoto and Osaka).

Mr Horii, owner of Sarashina Horii, a long-established soba restaurant in Azabu-Juban, Tokyo, founded in 1789, says that because soba was food for ordinary people, they did not worry much about formal table manners. If you are eating in a hurry at a standing stall, slurping comes naturally. The article's view is that the habit spread from the soba stalls and was passed on to the way people eat other noodles, including today's ramen. This is only a "plausible explanation", however, and there is no clear historical record to prove it.

What does slurping make taste better?

Mr Horii explains that slurping is "to fully appreciate the aroma of the soba". In wine tasting, you do not just sniff the glass; you take the wine into your mouth and also taste the aroma that rises from the back of your throat into your nose. Cold soba gives off no steam, so there is not much to smell even if you bring your nose close. So you slurp it vigorously and enjoy the aroma that travels from your mouth up into your nose.

GO TOKYO also says it is fine to slurp soba noisily, because drawing in the aroma with air makes the flavour richer. It adds that the aroma comes through most in cold soba such as "zaru" and "seiro" (chilled soba served on a bamboo tray or in a steaming box).

Another common explanation is that slurping lets you cool hot noodles with air as you eat, a way to eat piping hot ramen or udon without waiting for it to cool down. It is best to think of both explanations as wisdom passed on from people's experience of eating, rather than something rigorously proven by science.

GO TOKYO even says that, unlike sushi or tempura, which are Japanese dishes to "savour quietly", soba tastes best when you "slurp it vigorously", and that this is the charm of Tokyo soba. It is interesting that even within Japanese cuisine, the "right" way to eat depends on the dish.

The "noodle harassment" fuss, and what surprises foreigners

In October 2016, the term "noodle harassment" ("nū-hara") became a talking point on social media. The claim was that the sound of slurping noodles was a form of "harassment" that made foreigners uncomfortable, and newspapers and TV picked it up. Looking back, however, the nippon.com article says the fuss was created almost entirely out of nothing.

That said, it really is common for foreigners walking into a Japanese noodle shop for the first time to be startled by the slurping all around them. There are also examples of adapting to the Western habit of not slurping: Cup Noodles sold in the United States reportedly have shorter noodles, so they can be scooped up and eaten in one mouthful without slurping.

The Japan National Tourism Organization (JNTO) also explains that in many restaurants customers slurp their noodles and that this is a generally accepted way of eating, and adds that you should not make fun of how locals eat, and that you do not have to slurp yourself.

Sarashina Horii reportedly has an illustrated English leaflet explaining how to eat soba. The article reports that older regulars from the neighbourhood sometimes give foreign customers friendly tips on how to slurp.

How to get on fine in a noodle shop

If you are not good at slurping, do not worry. Mr Horii himself says, "I don't tell people how to eat. If you can't slurp, just chew. What matters is that you enjoy it." It is perfectly fine to lift the noodles to your mouth a little at a time with your chopsticks, or to use a renge (a Chinese-style spoon).

When eating cold soba, GO TOKYO recommends dipping just the ends of the noodles lightly in the sauce, because Tokyo's dipping sauce is strongly flavoured. When you have finished, the Tokyo way to round off the meal is to pour "soba-yu", the water the soba was boiled in, into the leftover sauce and drink it. Soba-yu contains rutin and dietary fibre that dissolved out during boiling, and drinking it is also said to be a way of enjoying the meal right to the very end.

Even in shops that are relaxed about noise, it is good manners to avoid loud conversation or phone calls. In a crowded shop at lunchtime, not lingering and leaving your seat promptly once you have finished is considered the "iki" way to behave, handed down since the Edo period.

Tips

Whether you slurp or not, neither is rude. Eat whichever way is easiest for you.
If you want to taste the aroma of soba, try cold "zaru soba" or "seiro" first.
With cold soba, rather than drowning it in the dipping sauce, lightly dip just the ends. That way you can enjoy both the aroma of the soba and the flavour of the sauce.
When you order cold soba, you may be brought "soba-yu" (the water the noodles were boiled in) at the end. Try pouring it into the leftover sauce and drinking it.
Buckwheat is a food that commonly causes allergies. If you are worried, check beforehand.
Slurping noodles is fine, but avoid loud conversation and phone calls inside the shop.