My first natto

I kept hearing stories about westerners and natto that made it sound like kryptonite. I’m here to report it wasn’t, at least for me. Kinda nice!

When I lived in France for a semester of college, I learned that many French like their eggs “baveuse” a little runny (literally “drooling” lol). I didn’t like that so I suspected natto texture would be some level of issue for me.

My husband and I split one box for our first foray. I read around and decided to make it this way:

Took it out of the box and stirred in a bowl 30 times each way. Really went at it. Then added sauce and mustard packets and stirred some more. Then added a small knock of soy sauce and sesame oil and stirred somewhat more. Then added scallions and black sesame seeds and stirred till combined.

We put it over warm rice and added an over easy egg to each. Served with miso soup.

The eating: I took my first bite the regular way, no egg, just natto on rice. The flavor was really nice! I like savory and this was that. No complaints at all. That foamy, slippery texture did get to me, though. After a couple of bites I went full school-kid and mixed it all up with the egg and ate it with a spoon. Success! It held the texture at bay and let me enjoy the flavor.

I even dunked one spoonful of mixed rice into my soup just to test. That cut the slippery effect even more but I didn’t need it much at that point.

So my verdict: sure, I’ll have natto once in a while! It is neither an always nor a never food for me.

Any other ways to eat it I should know about? There were all kinds of preparations out there, grilled toasts, etc.