To Bean or Natto Bean

To Bean or Natto Bean

When it comes to food, I'll eat just about anything. I'm game.

Not that I have a cast-iron stomach. I've downed some "things" that I'm sure weren't from this world.

And they sent me straight for the porcelain throne.

And then there's Natto.

Who'd a thunk that edamame (soybeans), a legume so innocuous (steamed and lightly salted so delicious) could turn into something that climbed out of swamp. 

 

Natto.
Fermented soybeans.
Slimy.
Stinky –
a distinctive stench. Like composting lawn clippings.
Most definitely an acquired taste.

Natto is indeed fermented soybeans. Boiled beans once cooled are inoculated with a bacteria, Bacillus subtilis var. natto.

That's right. Natto has its own bacteria. Even I don't have that honorable title.

The history of Natto goes back to 1086 - 1088 AD, where a samurai, Minamoto no Yoshiie while on the battlefield, hurriedly packed up some cooked soybeans into straw bags until days later, by which the beans had fermented, opened to find the slimy mess.

But they ate it. And gosh darn, liked it. Oishi!

The straw in those bags held the bacteria that helped "turn" the soybeans. And gave them their distinct grassy flavor.

Oishi? Well, perhaps aside from the stringy, mucilaginous qualities, and the unsavory smell, there is some part of Natto that has my gustatory appreciation for its nutty, even the funky "straw-like" overtones. Whatever that is (yeah, I graze on hay quite often).

There's definitely a "turned" taste.
But not like Chinese Stinky Tofu. That stuff has moved in the realm of death warmed over. Aficionado's would stay it rivals Limburger, both in smell and taste: there is some kind of stinky cheese quality.
Natto is more "barnyard." The fermentation process is relatively fast: like a week. There's no aging like wine or cheese to mellow things out. So there is a bit a "rawness." Even bitterness.
And of course, there's those long, stringy strands of snot.

Natto is definitely an acquired taste. Polarizing. Among the least favorite foods in Japan, Natto takes the cake. Or pie chart (68% people polled in Japan in 2003).

Here in the U.S., I don't have data on the likes and dislikes of Natto. Particularly from the Japanese American community.

For me, my mom loved Natto. She had it on hot rice.
My dad hates it.
My mom is Sansei, and my dad Nisei. I know their parents loved the stuff.
Again, I'm not crazy about it. So the "acquired taste" might be generational, discounting my dad.

To bean or Natto bean. That is the question. I'll take edamame (steamed and lightly salted) anytime. Natto? I'll pass.

What's your least favorite Japanese food?
(And what's your favorite?)
Let me know.

Drop me a line at toyoshimad@earthlink.net