Just Hungry

While living in Japan I ate raw squid eyeballs, deep fried eel heads, raw liver of a manta ray, and all sorts of squishy, squiggley things that defy description. Still, after all that, I have never been able to stand the smell, let alone the taste, of natto. Fortunately we lived in Kyoto in the southwestern part of Japan, where people don't really eat natto so much. However, every time we travelled to Tokyo we were offered natto for breakfast. Ugh! Stinky socks you say? Really stinky socks.

Never tasted natto, but looking at the picture I could swear it was rice and beans, the most tipical dish from Brazil. And, well, I love it... I want to try natto!

Ouhhhh!!! I love Sushi and Natto Maki is one of my favorite choose. I'm looking forward to go back to Japan and eat Sushi as much as I can.

love
Hope Bloom

My Japanese husband despises natto. But, I have become addicted to natto with rice. Yum! I am American by the way.

Thanks so much for the information. I would like to try the most authentic natto available. Would you be so kind as to recommend a supplier? It would probably have to be by mail order and I live in the Hamptons part of Long Island and our specialty stores probably will not carry it.
Thanks again for the information,
Chris Stanley

Being fed natto since a new-born, I crave it whenever I'm in some remote location in the US where they do not sell such exotics.

The stuff smells, but that's part of why it tastes good! Sometimes the best stuff smells the worst. Good cheese. Good Kimchi. Good spaghetti. Good thai dishes using fish sauce. Natto is definitely not an exception. The fact that it has many health benefits, especially for a western meat eater (it helps clean up your blood vessels by binding to cholesterol) was something I learned lately, and rejoiced, knowing that it was already something I loved eating.

For the faint of heart however, they now sell pills containing the active ingredient "nattokinase" at hippy markets/co-ops..I'm sure other places as well.

Natto isn't liked by all Japanese, this is true. My uncle Akimasa can not stand it, so he sticks to "Ama-natto", which is the low-odour version. This is understandable, since the smell is rather kitsui. My Irish-American father eat's natto, one pack a day around 7:00, since he has high cholesterol. This, combined with a healthy diet rich in fish, vegetables, and poly unsaturated fats has kept him out of the doctor's office.

Elise,

Raw squid eyeballs, I had no idea that these were a delicacy! I could see ink being extracted and used for making a squid ink spaghetti (Spanish) or ramen (Japanese).
Deep fried eel.. sounds great, but the heads were sold seperate? Never had that either. Liver of a manta ray.. Ahh, that must have been tasty, much like raw liver of moulard ducks, commonly used in french cuisine. When I worked in sushi shop, we used Monkfish liver as a Japanese analogue. Au torchon! Squigly things that defy description.. Pickles! Raw squid pickles! .. or Seaweed.. haha.. Man, I miss Japan all of a sudden.

Give me natto maki with Green onions mixed in!

-rj

I went to may favorite store and looked for some natto. I found some in the refrigerated part of the store, whoowee, step one. I figured that the consuming of natto occurred during breakfast due to my extensive watching of “slice of life” anime. Great, steeling myself I open the prepackaged tub and found a little packet of mustard and the natto. I have never smelt anything like it before but in for a penny, in for a pound. I grabbed my chopsticks and got to stirring. A little unclear on the concept, the mustard went in the stirred tub of beans. The texture started to shift from a honey with lumps to a taffy with lumps. Wondering when to stop the stirring, the chopsticks lifted and the natto followed. I was not to enthused as to what greeted my first bite. With most things, the first serving should not be the making or breaking of a food. I ate another bite, not much improvement. Now, strong cheese and I have had a love affair of longstanding, chilies are my friend, seafood cooked and raw are frequently enjoyed in my home. This was another food to get used too. My eyes leaked and my nose ran. This isn’t a barrier for me as this also occurs with other strong foods. I don’t seem to eat them for breakfast.
My mistake I realized, was that most people eat natto with something else! If I was paying attention, some rice would be available to ease my acceptance of this new sensation. I did drink a lot of water. My wife noticed my distress and asked if I was alright. I pointed to the natto. She smiled and turned down the offer to share.
I have since tried it again with a bowlful of hot brown rice. I resisted adding to the sliminess with the raw egg but some scrambled egg cooked with onion and cheddar allowed me to enjoy it in my wimpy way. I will not be deterred, future breakfast will be enjoyed with fewer and fewer additions until it will be natto and rice alone.
Its not bad at all, thank Maki!
mysofa

Dedicated to all things yummy.

Oh my.

I LOVE NATTO! Haha, I miss it soooooo much.
Ever since I came to korea, I’ve been dying to eat some natto, but they don’t sell it here! Well, not in the packages, but still.

I tried nattoo the other day at my friends hourse and I was plesantly surprised! It looks totaly discusting but it tastes fine! ... Its not my new fave food and I wouldnt seek it out specily however it was nice enough and I would eat it again if it was offered to me :)

I just tried natto for the first time, I ate it over rice, and it was way better than I thought it would have been, so i loved it!

I first had natto at a university guest house outside of Nagoya. I had *no idea* what is was or how to eat it; I had no preparation at all for what to expect at Japanese breakfast, a meal about which I am quite ritualistic. But I was game - I opened up the little cup, and knowing no better, ate the natto straight.

And loved it! It probably helped that I brought a love for stinky cheese (les pieds de Dieu!) to the table. A Japanese professor sat down at my table and laughed at the empty natto cup. "I can't eat. I can't eat."

My love of natto turned out to be a helpful topic in all the inevitable "Is this your first time in Japan" conversations over the course of my stay. The American who loved natto from the very first time was novel enough to steer the conversation in more interesting directions.

Happily, I can find it at a Japanese grocery not far from my subway stop in Manhattan. But I don't read enough Japanese (still working on it) to be able to read the packages and have any method of discriminating between one brand and another. I just end up choosing by which one has the nicest package...

I like natto now, but didn't at first. I find that lots of green onions and hot mustard that comes with the natto pack really nullify the stinky smell. When you get used to the taste then you can use less or omit them altogether. I like this one dish at a restaurant...it has cold soba topped with raw quail egg, natto, green onions, and grated yamaimo, served with soy sauce(?? that's what the color and consistency look like but I'm not sure) to pour in a little as you eat. It was super slimy.