More Delicious Food

So, I thought people would want to see what I eat for breakfast. I don't actually think that, but it is an easy way to make an update. So, here's my breakfast for today.



It's a little hard to see, but there's a bowl of miso soup there, a bowl of banana, which I sliced up because Japanese people are getting to me and everything needs to be in a separate bowl here, and a bowl of plain white rice. But what's in this mystery box?



It's natto! It's hard to see the actual natto, sorry, but I'm using photo booth to take these pictures, and, believe it or not, actually eating my breakfast before it gets cold is a higher priority for me than perfectly framing each shot with the built in camera. I was trying to show off the stuff that came with the natto, a packet of mustard and a packet of some kind of reddish liquid. The first time I had natto, it came with this stuff, and I liked it, but since then all the natto I've gotten has come with some kind of paste which might or might not be daikon, and which is not nearly as good.

For those not in the know, natto is fermented beans. Pretty much everyone hates it, even most Japanese people. It's supposedly only popular in eastern Japan, which is where it was first introduced, specifically in Tokyo. Of all the foreigners I've met here, I'm the only one I know who doesn't gag at the thought of eating it. To be fair, it generally does smell really terrible. It doesn't really taste like much, though, so I think people are just exaggerating. When it's got this mustard on it, it's actually pretty good, and the smell gets kind of covered up. So, there's that. I should also mention that natto is very sticky. The beans all stick together, and when you pull them apart, these strings of goo will stretch between them. That is kind of annoying.



There's the natto mixed in with the rice. I think you're supposed to just take a bit of it at a time, put it on top of the rice, and eat it, then repeat. The stickiness makes that an incredibly difficult process, and it is far better when the rice heats up the natto, in my opinion, so I just mix it all together in the rice bowl.

I generally eat natto once a week and miso every day. So, basically, I should be gaining super powers very soon. My old Japanese professor would be proud. Miso is very good at lots of stuff, especially at preventing radiation sickness and cancer. Natto is very good for digestion, I believe, so I'll be very healthy. Maybe the instant curry makes up for that, though...