Job Discussion Forums

[gaijin4life]

Natto is scary !! I can eat sashimi, sushi, nori (ofcourse..) various other strange and unusual things but I do not believe there will ever come a day when I can, of my own free will - eat Natto, never mind enjoy it.

Natto scares me - its like that scary Sardinian cheese with the larvae .. !

[Apsara]

Liking cheese and liking natto are unrelated. It's not the taste or smell of natto that offends me, it's the sliminess. Cheese is not usually slimy. If it is, that means it's probably gone bad.

My husband likes to mix up natto, kimchi, raw egg and rice- one of his favourite dishes. Now that is a vile mixture- I have to leave the room sometimes, or retaliate by eating Vegemite on toast.

[JimDunlop2]

I often get asked by my Japanese counterparts whether or not I like natto. For this I have developed a rather standardized response.

"Well, unfortunately, natto cannot be classified as "food" in the broad sense... So I can't eat natto any more than I can eat a chair or a pencil or my shirt. Ask me if I like a specific FOOD and I'll be happy to answer you, but natto just isn't an edible product."

Once they get over the fact that I say this with a perfectly serious expression on my face and without flinching, they usually have to think about it for a minute before busting out laughing, as I obviously must be joking. (I dunno. Am I?)

[User N. Ame]

Natto went from being my least favourite snack food upon arrival Japan, to my most cherished snack upon departure! Give it a chance, before you know it, you'll be downing multi-packs per day. Westerners who hate natto are narrow minded twits with no sense of cullinary adventure.

There's only one truly inedible food in Japan - konyaku. Like eating bland gelatinized pencil erasers. But the white stringy varietal served as ouden is nice if you imagine really hard you're eating a very tastey, firm Vietnamese pho.

[JimDunlop2]

[User N. Ame]

[TokyoLiz]

User N. Ame said

[User N. Ame]

[JimDunlop2]

No, no. My taste buds are fine, thank you very much. They enjoy a great variety, in fact. Just not some of the sad excuses for food they have here (especially in the way of kyuushoku).

I rather enjoy spicy food -- anything Thai or Korean is pure bliss. I've even gone out of my way to try the unusual (yeah -- I ate the dog when I was in Pusan. It was a little strange but the dog soup was pretty tasty).

The Japanese have a lot to learn about good food and cooking. It was no coincidence that several years ago, there was a hilarious run-in with Tim & Nina Zagat, the publishers of Zagat's restaurant guides.

Turns out, that the producers of the "Iron Chef" program felt slighted that the Zagats didn't feel it appropriate to included ANY Japanese restaurants in their Zagat's guide to Tokyo... And hoped that their "Iron Chef Japanese" would be able to redeem the country and to prove to the Zagats that they were not only worthy of inclusion into their restaurant guides, but that the Japanese were capable of producing food that could compete in the international arena of gourmet cuisine. To help achieve this, they invited Tim and Nina Zagat as "guest judges" during an Iron Chef contest/show.

At the end of the show, when the judges comment on the dishes that the chefs prepared, a translator was employed to translate the Zagats' comments. He did what he could to tone down their strong comments, and even then the host of the show was visibly distraught, and so angry and seething, he could barely contain himself. They have few kind words to say about the Japanese gourmet dishes that were prepared for them... The presentation was amazing (as one might expect) but apparently it was all a tad lacking in the taste department.

I dunno. You can have your natto and pregnant fish with eyes, but I tend to agree with the Zagats. I've had a lot of good food in a lot of different countries, and I'd be a liar if I said I didn't really enjoy some of the foods in Japan, but to say that I've had something so unbelievably fantastic here that I'd be crushed if I could never have it again, I'd be lying also.

Perhaps your own taste buds have gotten a little too Japanized....

[Yawarakaijin]

You think Natto is bad? I will shortly be moving to Nagano-ken and was there a few weekends ago to be introduced to the boys in the office. On our first trip to the izakaya I was informed that I would have to go through an initiation ritual. It appears a few of the locals have some peculiar tastes.....and would soon have to step up to the plate.

#1. Zazamushi




#2. Inago



#3. Hachinoko




In my defence....I waited until after lunch

[User N. Ame]

[JimDunlop2]

Mmmmm. Hot sauce!

If I could have the IDEAL pub, it would definitely include izakaya fare AND Western fare. E.g.

Edamame
yakitori
yakisoba
takoyaki
various sashimi
mixed nuts
Calamari
pickled eggs
veggies & dip
pretzels
nachos (with lotsa cheese, salsa guacamole)
potato skins (with butter, sour cream, bacon and chives)
onion rings

I'd also have my favorite beers on tap:

Pilsner Urquell (CZ)
Budvar (CZ)
Traditional Ale (Big Rock Brewery, Canada)
Guinness & Kilkenny (IRL)
Coors Light (US) (Great for summer when I want to drink a LOT without getting gooned)
Rickard's (Red, Gold, Pale Ale) (CDN)
Sleeman's Honey Brown (CDN)
Edelpils (JPN)
Yebisu (JPN)

Unfortunately, I'm not a huge texture guy. It's gotta taste good for me to like it. That's probably why my favorite food in the whole wide world is steak, cooked very rare. (Which, incidentally, the Japanese tend to excel at sometimes. Some of the most amazing steak I've ever eaten has been prepared here in Japan).

[fluffyhamster]

First time I had (that is, had the option of eating/forcing down) one of those little pots of natto at my JHS, I grabbed the long bread roll, made a mouth in the end of it, positioned it so it looked like the head of an Alien (TM), then liberally applied some of the spewy gunk. Et le voila, Alien complete with acidic slimey saliva.

[gaijin4life]

[TokyoLiz]

Kids, natto is the Cheese of the East.

Cheese...That cheese stuff is addictive. Allan Watts and his cheese haiku are calling me...