僕の納豆の冒険

みなさん！こんにちは！

Today, I thought I'd have a little chat about Japanese food... and to begin, I will start with 納豆 (nattō).

So, the other day, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit 納豆 and give it a 6th try. Well, I admit I have actually only eaten it twice before - once was only a spoonful from some that a friend was eating for lunch, and once when I thought I might buy some and try it properly at home. That was about 5 years ago and I haven't had any 納豆 since.

My first taste of 納豆 was unpleasant. I did not like the smell, flavour nor the texture. The second time, when I thought I might be able to eat a whole bowl of it at home, I pretty much had the same opinion and gave the rest to my mum who liked it immensely and ate it all without a problem.

Well, my dear readers (one day......), last week I went to my favourite supermarket and bought a 4 pack of 納豆 - 納豆しそ海苔* to be exact. About an hour ago, I returned from an interview and seeing as it was lunchtime, I thought I may as well have 納豆 for lunch!

I made some rice, prepared the nattō with the dressing provided (which on its own, tasted quite good), and scooped the nattō onto my rice with a big splash of soy sauce. I sat down and unfortunately was very quickly reminded of how much I disliked the smell, flavour and texture. In fact, just before I wrote that sentence, I had to run to the kitchen for a drink to get the flavour out of my mouth. 

I kind of want to like it, but I'm going to have to classify myself as a non-eater. I did however make a good effort to finish the bowl. There's about a quarter left and I definitely ate much more than I did the last two times. If I ever feel I can give it another go, I will venture back into the fridge and prepare another of the 3 remaining packs. Who knows, the more I try it, the less nasty it may seem! (I'm trying this with Li Hing Mui but it isn't going well).

So, to more positive subjects, my favourite Japanese foods are たこ焼き (takoyaki = octopus dumplings/balls), well actually I pretty much love everything else except for うなぎ (unagi = eel) and for some reason お好み焼き (Japanese-style pancake) has never been a big favourite. When I went to Japan, I ate カレーライス (curry rice), for the first time ever and my heavens, it was delicious! If only I had some now...  

*I'm not quite sure what しそ海苔 (shisonori) is. If anyone can enlighten me, please do! So far, I've found sites calling it Perilla, and on the packet the nattō is sitting on a leaf with the same shape as the one pictured on wikipedia. It says it is supposed to have a mint/fennel/apple-like flavour. As I said, it tasted good on its own! :P

Here's another video by the ウルフルズ! It's related to takoyaki and okonomiyaki! Enjoy!