Natto

By Dyske    May 20th, 2009

nattoWhen speaking of strange food from Japan, natto usually tops the chart. You can see a video of how to eat this stuff on YouTube.

What is strange about natto to a Westerner is not so much the flavor but the slimy texture, simply because slimy texture is not part of the Western food culture. The closest thing is okra. It is surprisingly easy to get kids to eat this stuff because most kids haven’t developed any prejudice towards slimy texture. They might reject a particular kind of food based on looks, but not so much on texture.

Another reason why many people are disturbed by it is because it’s fermented. It’s basically rotten soybeans. It also has a very distinct smell. I’m used to it, and I don’t find it objectionable. (In fact, I think it smells good.) My wife thinks it stinks.

The easiest way to enjoy natto might be to get a sushi roll with natto. It’s pretty common, so you should be able to ask for it at any sushi restaurant. Because it is wrapped in a lot of rice, you barely feel the texture or the smell of it, but you do taste the flavor. So, try it out next time you are at a Japanese restaurant.

5 Responses

  1. Angie says:

    May 20th, 2009 at 7:52 pm

    Do you think blogging just has to be about writing? Reason I ask is I want to start a photography blog, but I feel I am better at expressing myself with photos rather than write. Should I even start it? With your experience could it work, more pictures, less words?

  2. elaine says:

    June 1st, 2009 at 6:31 am

    Interesting

    After your introduction, I feel like to have a try.

    -^______^-

  3. Roxzane says:

    October 24th, 2009 at 5:37 am

    ^^ I LOVE NATTO!!!~ In Korea, there is this paste made out of that and it’s called cheonggukjang (doenjand is something similar) and I love that stuff. I know that there is actually ice cream made from natto, so that kids eat the healthy beans, and soups are made from them. I even had natto as a smoothie by blending it and adding some sweet things, or just plain by itself. I used to drink that as a health smoothie every morning~ (I don’t get why some people don’t like this stuff XD Although I do know that most don’t like beans, the sliminess or that there is really no taste)

  4. Isaac Kojima says:

    June 9th, 2011 at 2:56 pm

    Natto is not weird at all. If you wanna talk about weird stuff in Japan, it’s better blog about jibachi-senbei or hachinoko.

  5. loanemu says:

    October 18th, 2015 at 3:03 pm

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