Most smelly Japanese food -- Natto

Hi everyone.

Today I'll write about natto (納豆　なっとう), a traditional Japanese food that many Japanese commonly eat for breakfast (I do too!). Most foreigners, however,  dislike it or are too scared to put it in the mouth.

Well, this is natto, or fermented soy beans. Sorry the photo is a bit blurry. I hope  you can see how "nebaneba" (=an anomatope representing sticky and gooey texture) these beans are. Its powerful smell somehow reminds me of strong blue cheese, while some foreigners compare it to stinky socks.

 

Natto often sells in small plastic containers bundled into packages of two or three like the photo above.

Before stirring, natto beans are not too sticky.

Add the attached sauce....(in case of this brand, the sauce is in the lid, and you can sprinkle the sauce over the beans without making your fingers dirty by simply folding the lid in two.) 

 

...Then stir the beans with chopsticks, and they become really "nebaneba" producing sticky strings like this. We normally eat it with white rice.

Do you find it already disgusting? Well, I don't blame you.

 "Fermented" means, in other words, "rotten" (edible though).  The distinctive flavor would gross out not only foreigners but some Japanese, especially Kansai residents, while many natto lovers are addicted to it.  

To be honest, I don't particularly like the taste, but I eat it almost every morning. Why? Because natto has various health benefits backed by medical research, such as cholesterol-lowering and cancer-prevention effects.

If you have never tried this exotic food, I would strongly recommend you to taste it at least once, not because it is good for your health, but because you can show your braveness and possibly become a hero (or heroine) among your foreign friends. 

Today's useful (?) expression is: なっとう　は　くさい　です。　（Natto wa kusai desu)
It means "Natto is smelly."