The Pleasures and Peculiarities of Pallettes Abroad

The foundation of any foreign experience has got to be culinary.  So much of the history and personality of a particular place can be discovered in its food and the people's relationship with it.  Since arriving in Japan, I've done more eating than anything else, and while my experiences have ranged from exquisite to brow-raising, they have always been enriching and deeply satisfying.

I've made a point of eating as Japanese as possible, and so while the cuisine of every conceivable culture can find representation here (everything from Italian to Uzbekistani), my choice of dining (with great indulgence on the part of Nathan and Asami) has stayed largely within the confines of this island nation.  Asami typically takes me out to lunch where I am able to sample a fine array of dishes in the traditional Japanese style.  These usually consist of heaping bowls of rice or freshly made noodles, moderately sized portions of fish (often raw) or chicken (though beef and pork are also common), miso soup, and a variety of pickled vegetables, wasabi, or other flavor-enhancers.  The results have been unequivocally delightful!

Natto

However, as my my meals begin to span the gamut into more modern times, I find myself encountering Japanese foods which have emerged from a point of contact with the western world, and the results are often... interesting.  I see things like sweet potato ice cream, coffee jello, squid pizza, and a beverage called "Cow Piss,"all of which are surprisingly good!  There really is nothing like a foreign culture to open your eyes to new interpretations of things you've always taken for granted.

There is, however, one traditional Japanese food that has proven to be only border-line appetizing and certainly more bizarre in its experience than anything birthed from cross-cultural exchange.  That would be natto, a fermented soybean slime with roughly the consistency of chunky snot.  If you were to stick soybeans up your nose, leave them there for a few days, and then sneeze them back out you would have natto.  It has a strong odor, but even more jarring is its stickiness that inevitably leaves strings of goop running from chopstick to lip.

Braving dangerous new frontiers

A spiderweb of mucusy goo stretches from the plastic top upon opening the container.  There a pile of little brown beans sits nestled together in grayish viscosity.  I stir in a little packet of soy sauce and spicy mustard and continue to give it a good turning as that's supposed to improve the flavor.  Scooping up a glob on the end of my chopsticks, most of it oozes off the sides to leave a stringy mess dangling back into its styrofoam cup.  One deep breath later the remnants were in my mouth, chewed up, and swallowed.

Honestly, it wasn't bad.  It was certainly different, and I wouldn't say it was good, but supposedly its very healthy, and for that reason I would try it again.  They say natto is a kind of trial by fire to test a foreigners compatibility with Japanese culture.  I feel I passed the test, but not gloriously; I wouldn't say I stuck the landing.  It is encouraging though to know I've braved the toughest challenge Japanese food could throw at me and came out on top.