I tell of my day-to-day experiences in a funky Japanese town from my American viewpoint. This blog could also be called 'Bizarro World', 'Notes From Kyushu, a Smaller Island', or 'Teaching English in Japan: Smash Your Ego in 10 Easy Lessons."

Monday, February 18, 2008

Not-o Natto??!!


Valentine's Day. A day of showing heartfelt love and appreciation, of giving home-made cookies, and if you are lucky enough, receiving as well...

Messiah, who works for the natto company, for reasons beyond my utter comprehension, unloaded a whole box load of the foul-smelling, indeed, yummy-tasting stuff into my fridge on February the 14th. I couldn't eat this much natto in a whole month, and I even like the stuff!!


from www.bookmice.net/darkchilde/japan/jnatto.html :

Natto is fermented soy beans. The beans are boiled, wrapped in straw and left to ferment for several days. They have vitamins, fiber and protein and thus are a good source of nutrition.

Natto dates back at least 1000 years and eventually became a favorite of people living in Edo, the capital city of Japan at that time.

People sold natto basically door-to-door. Some people added it to miso, others added minced onions and soy sauce and then poured the entire sum over some hot rice. It's cheap and has a rather strong odor.

Natto is sometimes used as a breakfast food, mixed with beaten raw egg and soy sauce, then poured over steaming hot rice. Natto is definitely not a favorite of non-Japanese, though, and even many Japanese do not care for it.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

What is natto? And who is Messiah?