Nagano takes its soba seriously. The prefecture produces buckwheat in the mountain valleys and the noodles are the local staple; you will find specialist soba restaurants throughout the city. The standard approach is to order cold soba with a dipping sauce (zaru soba), and the quality is consistently high. The Omotesandō approach to Zenkō-ji is lined with restaurants aimed at pilgrims and tourists, most serving soba alongside local mountain vegetables, miso-based dishes, and oyaki — stuffed dumplings of buckwheat dough filled with vegetables or red beans.
The city's proximity to the mountains means excellent wild mushrooms in autumn, fresh mountain vegetables (sansai) in spring, and preserved foods like miso and pickled vegetables year-round. Nagano's local miso, made from soybeans and often with added ingredients like shiso or walnut, is notably flavourful and widely available as a cooking ingredient and in miso soup. The restaurant streets around the station and near Zenkō-ji both offer good options at a range of prices; the Zenkō-ji approach tends toward traditional pilgrim food while the station area has more variety.