In the southern part of Miyagi this is made at the spring and autumn equinoxes and at Obon. It is shojin cooking, entirely vegetarian, prepared for the days when the household is turning its attention toward its dead.

Several different kinds of vegetable, tofu, fried tofu, and small wheat gluten balls are simmered together in the water that was used to rehydrate dried shiitake. Then shiroishi umen noodles go in, and at the end the whole thing is thickened with kudzu starch.

The name of the dish comes from that thickening. Kuzu, the arrowroot vine, whose roots were dug out of the hills and processed to get at their starch. These days most cooks reach for potato starch instead, on the simple grounds that it is on the shelf and kudzu is not.

Shiroishi umen is a local noodle, slightly thicker than somen, and made without any oil, which is the reason it is regarded here as being easy on the stomach. The bowl works three ways: hospitality for people who have gathered for a memorial service, an offering placed before the household altar, and an ordinary dish eaten at an ordinary meal. And the name still points at an ingredient that mostly is not in it any more.