We got off the highway some time after the short stop at the Shizugadake Service Area. The next destination was Eiheiji Temple. This temple is so famous that you can find its features in the English literature or on the internet.
When we reached a few kilometers before the temple, we decided to have lunch. The temple would be large in area and it would take more than two hours to see around. That's why we had lunch before visiting the temple.
My wife found a lavish restaurant by the roadside, which served tofu dishes. Originally Japanese Zen monks didn't eat meat and obtained protein from soybeans. As we all know, soybeans are the material of tofu. Several temples which have a long history often have their own recipe for tofu and now their original tofu became one of the main products of the region around the temples. So, my wife wanted to have them, but I don't like tofu.
Soba, buckwheat noodle, is also in the same position. Old temples were usually established deep in the forest or in an isolated place. In such places, not so many crops have been harvested. However, buckwheat could have been planted on deserted land or even in dry land. Zen monks raised buckwheat for their food and it has also become one of the products around the temples. Naturally, there were many soba restaurants around Eiheiji temple, but I hate soba too.
My wife pestered me for a choice between tofu and soba, both of which I hated. In such a case, if I didn't follow her, she would have continued to complain that she wished to have eaten tofu FOREVER. I gave up and stopped my car at the parking lot of the tofu restaurant.
The ordinary meals for Zen monks are called Shojin Rhori, which means vegetarian dishes. Shojin Rhori is actually the specialty of the temple, but,,,I don't like it. The menu was all tofu-related and awful for me, and I ventured to choose the dish in the first picture, which was soba soaked into soybean milk. There was no more terrible dish for me, but it was not bad. The second picture was my wife's. These were completely vegetarian dishes.
(Vocabulary)
specialty 自慢の品［料理］, 特産（品）, 名物料理
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