Before I came to Japan, my father had told me something about Japan's geography, folklore and eating habits. Especially when he mentioned that he ate natto (fermented soybeans) and miso soup every morning while he was in Japan. After I arrived in Japan, I truly understood what natto is. Natto machine, very few Chinese people in Japan can get used to eating natto, but the Japanese consider it a high-grade nutritional product.
What is natto? It is made by fermenting boiled soybeans. There are two types of natto: how to choose a natto machine, salty spicy natto and sticky thread natto. The common sticky thread natto on the Japanese market is packaged in soft white square foam boxes. You can buy three or four boxes for 100 yen. It is yellow with sticky juice. Each box comes with a small bag of mustard paste and soy sauce. Remove the thin paper on the surface of the box, pour the seasoning, stir repeatedly with chopsticks until a viscous liquid forms. When you pick it up with chopsticks and put it in your mouth, fine and long sticky threads keep connecting, floating and swaying, and the length can reach more than a foot.
When I first arrived in Japan, Shi Jun and Qiu Jun and I lived together in Shimosa Town, Chiba Prefecture. In order to get along well with the neighbors around us, we often wrapped some dumplings and gave them to our neighbors after work. One day, Mrs. Kawaguchi, our neighbor, brought us something tied with a little straw. We didn't understand its meaning. Mrs. Kawaguchi looked at us blankly and smiled, saying, "This is a famous local product from Mito, Ibaraki - natto. Try it." "It's very delicious." After Mrs. Kawaguchi left, we were very curious during dinner and opened the straw bundle. We saw a bunch of yellow beans inside. Boldly, we scooped them onto a plate, mixed them with seasonings, and tasted them. The taste was not bad, with an endless exotic flavor.
Mentioning natto, naturally reminded me of my mother's hometown, Huang County in Shandong Province (now Longkou City), where there is a kind of bean silk sauce that tastes similar to natto, reminding me of the scenes of my childhood. After the New Year, my mother would prepare to make bean silk sauce. First, she soaked soybeans in water overnight and cooked them in a pot. At this point, the soybeans swell, their color turns dark red, and they have a slightly sweet taste. These cooked soybeans, along with a little broth, are placed in a basin and set in a warm place to ferment. Once the soybeans are fermented and turn into something like green caterpillars, you can pick them up with chopsticks, resembling jade-like marbles, pulling out threads. At this time, add a little salt, mix with ginger and garlic shreds, and it becomes a flavorful side dish.
But why does Japan call it natto? I asked some Japanese people around me, but none of them knew. On Sunday when the company was closed, I went to the Chiba Library to look up some materials and finally figured it out.
Originally, the name natto comes from the monks' storage room (where things are stored). The monks would cook soybeans and place them in earthenware jars or wooden barrels, storing them in the storage room as a constant supply for the monastery.
Natto has a long history. During the Tang Dynasty, Buddhism was transmitted from the East, and natto came along with it. According to historical records, at that time, natto was made by cooking soybeans and placing them in rice straw bags to naturally ferment and develop sticky threads. Therefore, only the natto produced in Mito, Ibaraki Prefecture, is the most traditional today.
It turns out that the origin of Japanese natto is still from China. No wonder the history, culture, and customs between China and Japan are deeply rooted and extensive, and the friendship between China and Japan should be passed down from generation to generation.
Nowadays, whenever I see supermarkets selling "super cheap" natto, I always buy it to eat. Even when I return to China to visit relatives, I bring a few boxes to let my friends in China try.
Recently, I read in the newspaper that during the SARS outbreak in China in 2003, Japanese newspapers discussed why there were no cases in Japan, possibly because Japanese people have the habit of eating natto every day!