Do you like Natto? Natto is a famous Japanese food, made from fermented soybeans. It has a sticky texture and a peculiar smell.
It’s really the staple Japanese breakfast food, we often put soy sauce and mustard in it and eat it with rice. I think natto is a food that people either love or hate, similar to Vegemite which is a typical Australian food. Let’s find out why people don’t like it and I’ll share more about why I love it. There are lots of benefits to natto, too!

WHY don’t people like natto?

I asked one of my coworkers, Austin, to try natto.

Let me get straight to the point: he didn’t like natto. Why didn’t he like it?

He said "natto has a strange texture and strange savoury flavour. I’ve never tasted similar like this unique food.”

I think people who don’t like natto would have the same reaction as Austin.

WHY DO I LOVE NATTO?

I actually like natto’s smell and sticky texture. When I was a child, my mother often served it for breakfast, so I might be used to it. It’s also easy to cook! It’s like healthy fast food, I can eat straight away when I’m hungry! You just mix natto and condiments and put it on top of rice. In addition, I think natto's biggest charm is it is rich in nutrition in just one pack. Natto is well-known as a healthy source of nutrients in Japan.

Natto has numerous nutritional benefits, with five major nutrients which are essential for maintaining our health:

• Protein 

• Lipids

• Carbohydrate

• Vitamins

• Minerals

However, natto has also a special nutrient, called nattokinase. It is only included in natto. 

Some people don't like this stickiness but nattokinase is in the sticky part of natto. It has the effect of preventing blood clots caused by a stroke and myocardial infarction. Nattokinase is weak to heat, so if you put natto on hot rice just cooked, it will lose its effect. It will die if you apply heat of higher than 70 degrees, so let's wait 5 minutes before eating it when you eat with freshly cooked rice.

Natto is YOUR SKINS best friend ! THERE ARE amazing four benefits

Natto is known it has effects for beautiful skin. It is also one of my reason why I love natto. I am not a health professional but I did my research and found some interesting facts.

I found four main benefits.

1. Fix hormonal imbalance

Natto is originally from soybeans, so natto has isoflavone. Its structure is similar to the female hormone, so it is said to be effective in improving hormone balance and improving menopausal symptoms such as hot flushes. Furthermore, the absorption capacity is increased when fermenting soybeans, so natto has more isoflavone than soybeans on its own.

2. Anti-Aging Effects

Natto contains polyamine which an ingredient with a unique rejuvenating effect. Polyamines are essential ingredients for cell rejuvenation. Natto is considered a high-polyamine food, due to the fermentation by natto bacteria.

3. Helps constipation

Natto has dietary fibe and helps Improvement of intestinal environment.

4. Supports fat loss

Natto helps to burn fat and it keeps you satisfied for a long time, so it can suppress snacking. Also, isoflavones have a functional role in lowering cholesterol levels and making it harder for excess fat to accumulate.

My favourite two condiments of natto

I think these ingredients are really popular to put in natto in Japan. If you eat natto with these ingredients, you can get more benefits from a synergistic effect.

1. Natto and spring onion

This is a really basic combination and is common in Japan. Spring onion has also strong smell but the flavor and this texture is a good match with natto.

Synergistic effect: It improves the absorption of vitamin B1 and can help recover from fatigue. It also helps prevent blood clots from natto.

2. Natto and kimchi

This is really good. I actually like spicy food and spicy food can increases appetite.

 Synergistic effect: Kimchi is also a fermented food, if you eat it together there’s an even stronger beneficial effect on the intestinal environment.

How to eat natto! Let’s add condiments

This method is from the National Federation of Natto Cooperative Association, but there are lots of ways to enjoy natto so have a go and see what you prefer.

I will show you this as just one of the options.

1. Open the natto pack and take soy sauce and mustard from the pack. Most natto packs come with them.

2. Peel the plastic and stir well (about 40 times) without any sauce.

3. Add condiments and stir together about 20-30 times.

4.  Add and soy sauce, mix gently (about 10-15 times).

5. Add the mustard and lightly mix (about 40 times).

6. All done! You can just pour it all on the rice and enjoy!

Can you understand why I love natto? Natto is really cheap but it has amazing nutrition. If you really don’t like natto, you don’t need to eat but if you haven’t tried and you’re interested, I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Writer: Yuki Takatani

Reference:
*1 実はスゴい!!納豆の栄養素
*2 その食べ方、もったいない！効果が得られる納豆の食べ方教えます！｜テレ東プラス
*3 女性にうれしい成分, 納豆ダイエットの効果は3つあり！健康的に痩せよう【食べ過ぎ注意】
*4【納豆の効果・効能】美容と健康効果を増幅する納豆の食べ方とアレンジレシピ - 店通-TENTSU-, 「納豆キムチ」の健康パワーとは？ この組み合わせがおすすめな理由
*5 納豆が最も美味しくなる「かき混ぜ回数」は？今まで以上に納豆を楽しむための心得３つ