“It is smelly, slimy and contains bacteria”, said Justin McCurry in The Guardian. But after centuries of being eaten for breakfast by Japanese people with “nerves of steel”, natto is popping up in health shops around the world as a superfood to “rival kimchi, kombucha and kefir”.
Made of fermented soya beans, sometimes chopped “hikiwari-style”, which are “held together by strands of mucus”, natto is packed and frozen to retain its nutritional value. The beans – which smell like “particularly ripe stilton cheese” – are extremely versatile: they can be eaten alone or topped with “mustard, shredded onion, wasabi and a splash of dashi”.
Many Japanese people wouldn’t touch natto with “barge-pole-length chopsticks”, and those in the west and south often remain “sceptical”. It’s more popular in the country’s eastern and northern regions where it is used to bulk out soups during the “long, bitterly cold winters”.
Natto is certainly “polarising”, said Erika Hobart on BBC Travel. Some people think it “tastes revolting”, but push through because of the benefits. The Japanese have long believed that consumption of the ancient dish is linked to “improved blood flow and reduced risk of stroke”. It’s packed with protein, fibre and vitamin K which is vital for bone and heart health.
According to a long-term study published in the British Medical Journal in 2020, researchers at Japan’s National Cancer Center found that men and women who ate fermented foods like natto every day “reduced their risk of dying from a stroke or heart attack by 10%”.
Now, the “highly nutritious gooey” beans are beginning to gain popularity outside Japan, said Tomohiro Osaki in the Taipei Times. Recent trade statistics from the country’s finance ministry show exports tripled to 5,248 tonnes between 2017 and 2025. China is the biggest consumer, followed by the US, Thailand and Hong Kong. This may be in part because the pandemic has spurred people on to find ways to strengthen their immune systems and improve their gut health.
If the texture puts you off, try whisking it into “submission”, by using chopsticks in “repeated circular motions”, said McCurry in The Guardian. “Natto novices” can try mixing the beans with chilli oil to make them more palatable, or even using them “as a topping for fish and chips”.
Japan’s smelly, slimy beans are highly nutritious but you’ll need ‘nerves of steel’ to eat them
