Subject: Slimy Stuff (Natto) (Was Attending Japanese Community Events)
> There are far more non-Japanese than Japanese,
> so from a marketing standpoint it makes sense to
> have an accessible show, not one so obscure or
> exotic that mainstream people can't relate to (e.g.
> putting natto on the menu wouldn't be a good idea).
Not to change the topic, but I (a sansei) recently had a natto maki (sushi rolls
made with natto) at a local sushi restaurant, and it was reat. I'm one of
the few Japanese (much less JAs) who likes natto, I think.
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto)
> I'm one of the few Japanese (much less JAs) who likes natto,
> I think.
Millions more Japanese and 1000s of more Nikkeijin than some people
might realize eat natto.
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto)
> Millions more Japanese and 1000s of more Nikkeijin than
> some people might realize eat natto.
What does natto taste like? I (a Southern California sansei in my early thirties) have never eaten it,
but it looks to me as if it might be sweet. What might the taste be compared to?
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto)
> What does natto taste like? I (a Southern California sansei
> in my thirties) have never eaten it, but it looks to me as if
> it might be sweet. What might the taste be comared to?
I (a sansei) can't think of a taste comparison. It smells like stinky dirty socks
(or worse), and it has a slimey, snot-like (hana-kuso) texture, and that's
enough to chase off most people I know, including many Japanese. I like
the taste, and the texture never bothered me that much. It does smell awful,
but so do a lot of Asian foods -- kim chee, takuan, horseradish, fishy stuff, etc.
Anyone else on this list eat natto? How would you describe the taste?
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto, etc.)
> I can't think of a taste comparison. It smells like stinky
> dirty socks (or worse)
This is off-topic, but has anyone on the list tried DURIAN, the "king of
fruits" ( in Malaysia maybe....)? It is a prickly-looking thing about the
size of a coconut, and it truly does smell like stinky old socks, and
tastes like it too, but it is a hugely popular item in SE Asia, available
at a lot of Asian groceries. I have had it both fresh and in a smoothie,
and I can't believe I'm still willing to eat it ...
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto, etc.)
> has anyone on the list tried DURIAN, the "king of fruits"
> ( in Malaysia maybe....)?
Durian is very popular is Indonesia, where I lived for a while in the
late 80's. "Stinky old socks" is probably a polite way of describing it. The
first time I tried it, I was told that it "Smells like shit, but tastes
like heaven". Well, if that is what heaven tastes like, I don't think I
want to go! (Talk about "living dangerously"....) Durian caused my gag
reflex to kick into high gear and I never had it again.
They even make a durian-flavoured candy, which is BIG in Indonesia
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto, etc.)
> "Stinky old socks" is probably a polite way of describing it.
> The first time I tried it, I was told that it "Smells like shit,
> but tastes like heaven".
OK, OK, I was being polite with my description of durian. I had a durian
smoothie at a Singaporean restaurant (it's a terrific restaurant)
and I burped "dirty socks" for several hours. Yikes.
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto)
> Millions more Japanese and 1000s of more Nikkeijin than
> some people might realize eat natto.
I was surprised, a few years ago, when a young woman from Japan told me
she had never eaten natto. I guess I just assumed all Japanese ate it at least once.
But then i don't eat tripe.
My parents were from Fukushima-ken, and we always seemed to have natto
in the house. We usually ate it mixed with a little soy sauce and green
onions and put it on top of our rice. When it got dried out, I used to
eat it directly as a snack and enjoyed the flavor as it got crunchier.
The taste is unique so that's why I like to eat it from time to time,
but honestly, I wouldn't say it is tasty or that it tastes good, it just
tastes different. It is definitely an acquired taste and is hard to describe
or compare it to something else. Suffice it to say, it tastes like rotten beans.
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto)
> Anyone else on this list eat natto? How would you describe
> the taste?
Every now and then I TRY VERY HARD to get myself to try natto but I just
can't get past the smell. I just remember as a little girl my sister and I
would run out of the room when my dad would eat natto, he loves the
stuff and we still have at least one package of it in the fridge at all times.
I tried to get him to describe the taste to me once but there was nothing
he could think of to compare it to.
Subject: Re:Slimy Stuff (Natto)
> Anyone else on this list eat natto?
I (a sansei) don't like natto, but I can at least say I have tried. In fact, I just
tried again about a week ago when I was in Tokyo. This time I tried to
cut it with shoyu and karashi, but no go. My nisei parents both liked it,
though. I guess it depends on personal preference...The smell? Can't
describe it, but it does conjure up images of the issei grandparents for
some reason.
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto)
> Anyone else on this list eat natto?
My mom likes natto, but it's "not-to" for me. :-) I guess, it's an
acquired taste/smell. The smell of natto in the microwave in
the morning does sort of wake you up, though. :-)
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto)
> Anyone else on this list eat natto?
My wife and I (a shin-issei) love natto! I make sure she serves the natto in equal-sized portions
(though I am otherwise not a bean counter) and I keep a close eye on mine while eating other
parts of the meal, lest the "Natto Dorobo (Natto Thief)" strike. :-)
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto, Tororo)
> I just remember as a little girl my sister and I would
> run out of the room when my dad would eat natto
Another Japanese delicacy that is hard to swallow (for me) is tororo.
Just as you had to leave the room for natto,
I (a nisei-han) too had to eat in another room when my family was eating tororo.
I tried it once as a child, but couldn't stand the texture -- it is slimy and looks like vomit.
And people mix in raw eggs to make it even more slimy.
Then they slurp it with rice, making lots of noise so it looks like vomit in reverse.
I would close the doors and eat by myself (rice and ochazuke or something)
while the family feasted on that nasty stuff.
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto, Tororo)
I (a sansei living in Japan) am very surprised (and appalled) at these descriptions of natto,
and now tororo. Back in LA, these were some of the very foods that I enjoyed eating.
Back home we usually always had some natto in the refrigerator. I would
often eat it with leftover gohan as a snack after school while watching cartoons on TV.
I never, ever, thought of natto in such a negative light or compared it to such grotesque things ...
I only thought hakujin thought of it that way.
> it is slimy and looks like vomit. And people mix in raw eggs
> to make it even more slimey. Then they slurp it with rice,
> making lots of noise so it looks like vomit in reverse.
Tororo....what a disgusting description!!
Although it was something that we didn`t eat very often, it was also
something that I (a sansei living in Japan) enjoyed.
Preparing it, however, was a bit of a hassle as it had to be grated in
one of those bowls called a suribachi.
It is quite convenient to eat it here in Japan as it also comes already prepared and frozen.
Eating natto or tororo with gohan always reminds me of home in LA.
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto, Tororo)
> Tororo....what a disgusting description!!
> Although it was something that we didn't eat very often,
> it was also something that I enjoyed.
Sorry. It is a pretty horrible description, but not many people
refute it (in terms of how it looks). I am happy for those who enjoy
it -- just not in my presence.
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto, Tororo)
> Another Japanese delicacy that is hard to swallow
> (for me) is tororo.
I (a sansei) like tororo, though I agree on how it looks and how slimy it is.
Speaking of slimy, anyone feel the same about yamaimo? It's a root
(taro?) that looks sort of like a long thin daikon radish. It's very slimy when
you grate it, and we put it on rice, drizzled with shoyu. Yummy ... I
wonder if there's an anthro-cultural reason why Japanese have some foods
that are so repulsive-looking by Western standards. A related food for
me is eating a raw egg mixed with shoyu, and poured over rice. I still do
this sometimes, risking whatever diseases I might suffer.
Those things remind me of my childhood in Japan.
I remember watching TV after school eating natto on nokori, or leftover, gohan.
There used to be vendors who would walk
through neighborhood very early in the morning, selling natto from carts,
calling out as he walked through the alleys. That's a memory I have,
maybe it's a faulty memory, though.
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto, Tororo)
> Another Japanese delicacy that is hard to swallow
> (for me) is tororo.
I (a sansei) don't go out of my way to have tororo, but unlike natto I can eat it.
I do like raw egg mixed w/shoyu over a hot bowl of rice and used to eat it
often from the time I was little and never got sick. I'm more reluctant
now because of all the related health news reports on raw eggs but I wonder
if it's more psychological.
> There used to be vendors who would walk through
> neighborhood very early in the morning, selling natto
> from carts, calling out as he walked through the alleys.
> That's a memory I have, maybe it's a faulty memory,
> though.
Whenever my dad, who is almost 80, has natto he always tells of how as
a child he would get his natto (tofu too) from the vendor every morning
for 1 yen. I haven't to Japan is quite a few years. Are there still street vendors
(noodle stands and such)?
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto, Tororo)
> Another Japanese delicacy that is hard to swallow
> (for me) is tororo.
Just before the end of our last visit to Japan nine years ago, my aunt
fed us a little cup of natto, with the disclaimer that it was a challenge,
but very healthly. Maybe she was trying to run us back to the U.S.?
We are going again later this month -- I bet this time she'll feed us tororo.
Everyone was very proud of us (including my gaijin husband), for eating
homestyle food. This time we'll see how my 13-year-old does.
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto, Tororo, etc.)
> I like tororo, though I agree on how it looks and how slimy
> it is. Speaking of slimy, anyone feel the same about yamaimo?
Tororo, sliced yamaimo, and don't forget okra! I (a sansei) like them all.
I have only have come to like natto recently. As a kid I could not stand it,
but I'm no less sure if it was because of its smell, or
I wasn't eating anything with soybeans unless it was brewed into shoyu at the time.
You have to have good natto, and for me, that was the tiny bean natto
from Tokyo - Kume Natto. It tastes so good, it's hard to eat other kinds of natto.
I believe on the Hokuriku Coast, or the Sea of Japan side, they have a
product made from seaweed called natto konbu. It has nothing to do with
natto or even the fermentation process, but mixed with water, the gel in
the seaweed coagulates into a natto-like texture. Excellent.
Aside from okra and raw eggs, I can't think of anything on this side of
the ocean that has that similar texture. Although if you store cured bacon
like the Americans did in the 18th century (non-refrigerated) it will
develop a slimey coat that you are supposed to wipe off and continue to use the bacon.
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto, Tororo, etc.)
> I believe on the Hokuriku Coast, or the Sea of Japan
> side, they have a product made from seaweed called
> natto konbu. It has nothing to do with natto or even
> the fermentation process, but mixed with water, the
> gel in the seaweed coagulates into a natto-like texture.
Great image -- "coagulates into a natto-like texture" -- yummy.
> if you store cured bacon like the Americans did
> in the 18th century (non-refrigerated) it will
> develop a slimy coat that you are supposed
> to wipe off and continue to use the bacon.
How in the hell do you know what bacon gets like if you store it
unrefrigerated, pioneer-style??? I am impressed with both your knowledge
and appreciation of natto, yamaimo, okra (I also love okra) and this
natto kombu, which sounds very interesting to me ...
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto, Tororo, etc.)
> > if you store cured bacon like the Americans did
> > in the 18th century (non-refrigerated) it will
> > develop a slimy coat that you are supposed
> > to wipe off and continue to use the bacon.
>
> How in the hell do you know what bacon gets like
> if you store it unrefrigerated, pioneer-style???
Yes, you could become an expert on "slime"!
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto, Tororo, etc.)
I (a sansei) like tororo, nagaimo and nama tamagogake (raw egg and shoyu mixed in rice),
though I stopped eating the latter due to the potential for egg contamination.
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto, Tororo, etc.)
> I like tororo [and] nagaimo
I (a sansei) had yamaimo this weekend on cold soba dipped into dashi, and realized
that yamaimo, nagaimo and tororo are the same thing, right? Slimy yam?
Whoever decided this stuff would be good to eat? What a summer treat,
and a flashback to my youth, having soba this way!
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto, Tororo, etc.)
> yamaimo, nagaimo and tororo are the same thing, right?
Similar in slime but not the same thing.
Subject: Re: Slimy Stuff (Natto, Tororo, etc.)
> > yamaimo, nagaimo and tororo are the same thing, right?
>
> Similar in slime but not the same thing.
The following are what you find in the KOJIEN dictionary (Tokyo: Iwanami, 5th Vol-1998):
- Yama-imo: Yama-no-imo - viny plant that grown naturally in the mountain
all over Japan. A perennial. Its roots are cylindric and elongated in shape.
- Naga-imo: A variety of yama-no-imo. A perennial plant, originally found
in China but it grows wild in the mountain all over Japan. Today, naga-imo
are planted in the field as a cash crop. Many different varieties have been
developed in Japan today. Its roots are annually harvested in the fall
season. Its roots are cylindric in shape and often grow to the length
of 1-meter. Generally eaten as "tororo" or other dishes.
- Tororo: The name "tororo" is the shortened version of "tororo-imo" or
"tororo-jiru." To make tororo: Grind yama-no-imo (or naga-imo) or
"tsukune-imo" (a variety of yama-no-imo) and mix into a seasoned soup
(generally seasoned with dashi, shoyu, and sugar/mirin). Tororo-jiru. Tororo-meshi.
