I like to go to Uwajimaya and try new things. I’ve been doing it long enough that there’s not many new vegan items left, so I’m revisiting old favorites. Today’s experiment was natto, a fermented (read: rotten) soybean snack popular in Japan. Most have some bonito (dried fish shavings), so I spent some time tracking down a vegan version. It comes in small styrofoam single-serving dishes with a tiny packet of hot mustard. After a short stint in the microwave and a quick stir with chopsticks it’s ready to eat, or in my case ready to wrap in two plastic bags and throw in the garbage. It has a thready, sticky consistancy, kind of like overcooked beans covered in snot. Except it’s much more disgusting than that, because it’s sticky snot that smells powerfully like a mix of old gym socks and poop. The poopsnot dangles from one’s chopsticks, creating two-foot long threads. I couldn’t bring myself to take a bite.
I can’t wait until I buy natto again in a few years!
I had to take this picture outside because it smelled so bad.
