On Okinawa Soba Day, read the untold story of the 92-year-old creator of “Soki Soba”

On Okinawa Soba Day, read the untold story of the 92-year-old creator of “Soki Soba”

“Nothing makes me happier than to be told ‘that was delicious,’” says 92-year-old Gabusoka Shokudo founder Genji Kinjo as he stands in his kitchen – September 29, Gasbuoka, Nago


October 17, 2021 Ryukyu Shimpo

 

October 17 is Okinawa Soba Day. At the Gabusoka Shokudo Honten in Gabusoka, Nago, which opened 55 years ago, the person standing in the kitchen is none other than its founder Genji Kinjo, 92.

“Nothing makes me happier than to be told ‘that was delicious.’” Except for Monday when the restaurant is closed, Kinjo still has his energy as he carefully stews soki, Okinawan spare pork ribs, serving them with homemade noodles everyday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

When he was 30, he escaped his office job and returned to his hometown Gabusoka, where he ran a fresh meat and fish market and a general store and came up with his idea for “Soki soba,” made using the leftover unsold soki. Rather than letting it go to waste, he brought it home and made a dish with soba noodles, serving it to his kids to rave reviews. In 1966 he founded the Gabusoka Shokudo, and the new dish being sold for 25 cents topped with the delicacy soki quickly took the town by storm. A dish created to prevent food waste had become the popular flagship product at the “original soki soba restaurant.”

Kinjo said smiling, “I am filled with energy when I see the shop filled with customers. I want to keep doing this as long as I am able.”

(English translation by T&CT and Sam Grieb)

 

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