Sunday, March 25, 2007

The smell of well-done socks of a sixteen old boy, natto

The smell of well-done socks of a sixteen old boy, natto
Epoisses in France, Durian in South Asia and Surströmming in Sweden.

All the foods are said to be very smelly.

People seem to like smelly food though they smell.

Japan has also some smelly food: one of them is natto, fermented soybeans. Its smell is just like the "well-done" socks before pulling off them for taking a bath. It is made of boiled soybeans and put them into a tube made from straw to allow the natto fungus to increase in number. Some time after, the beans ferment and get sticky. We usually stir it into gruel, add some drops of soy sauce and some finey-chopped raw Welsh onion, called negi in Japanese, and eat it with boiled.

Some says, anybody from the outside of Japan can eat it is compensating for his small weiner.

By the way, I had disliked it for 19 years old. When I was a college student, I always did not have two nickels to rub together. I went to a supermarket to get some healthy and reasonable food and caught sight of this food. This food is cheap and healthy, as well as eggs. After getting the beans, I tried it and did not feel so worse. Since then, I like this food and often eat it for breakfast.

If I have a chance to go to Sweden, I'll try Surstromming!!

PS. The photo below is the beans after stirring.
The smell of well-done socks of a sixteen old boy, natto

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4 Comments:

At 3/25/2007 8:35 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

These are delicious if you hold your nose. At least that is how we used to eat them in 1953.
720 Pixels

 
At 3/26/2007 7:28 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

God, I hate natto. We had a homestay student from Japan and she LOVED natto. The smell is unbearable!

 
At 3/27/2007 2:24 AM, Blogger Ming the Merciless said...

I have seen it on Iron Chef and have always wanted to try it. But I never did. Maybe next time I go to a Japanese restaurant, I will order it.

 
At 4/01/2007 1:28 PM, Blogger Tall Gary said...

I also came to like natto when I was a poor exchange student in Tokyo. It's an acquired taste but one can acquire it. It's good in warm foods like natto omelets or yaki natto.

I would often get extra natto at 大戸屋 and put it on maguro yamakake. Kimuchi (kim chee) natto is also good, I think.

By the way, my Oscar Meyer is not small. I know because I went to many sento.

 

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