納豆 Natto (fermented soya beans)

みなさんは納豆[なっとう]を食べたことがありますか。納豆は英語で言うと、fermented soya beansで安くて、栄養価[えいようか]が高く、そしてとてもくさい食べ物です。 まあ、fermentedなんですからくさくて当然[とうぜん]ですね。私はとても好きですが、そのくささのために、日本人の中にも嫌[きら]いな人がいます。ニュージーランドで日本語を勉強している人はほとんどの人が和食、例[たと]えば、すし、てんぷら、すきやきなど好きですが、納豆だけは食べられないという人がかなりいます。

もし食べたことがなくてぜひ食べてみたい、という場合は、ニュージーランドでも納豆を買うことができますよ。私は先日[せんじつ]近所のアジア食品[しょくひん]の店に行って買ってきました。4つパックで4ドル19セントでした。これは日本で買う納豆と全く同じです。もちろん日本のスーパーにはいろいろな種類[しゅるい]の納豆がありますが、先日[せんじつ]私が行った店にはこの納豆しかありませんでした。納豆を食べる時にはごはんを用意[ようい]してください。納豆だけ食べることもできますが、日本人はふつう、ごはんと一緒[いっしょ]に食べますし、その方がおいしいと思います。納豆を買ってふたをあけたら、ふつう2つの小さなふくろがあります。1つはマスタードで、もう1つはしょうゆ味[あじ]のだしです。これを納豆に混[]ぜて、おはしでよくかき混[ま]ぜてからごはんと一緒に食べてみてください。私は刻[きざ]んだねぎと一緒に食べるのが好きです。体[からだ]にいいですよぉ。
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Have you eaten natto before? Natto is fermented soya beans: it’s cheap, nutritious, and very smelly!  It is FERMENTED, so smell is very natural feature…  Most of Japanese language learners in New Zealand really like Japanese food such as sushi, tempura, and sukiyaki, but even for them natto seems a bit too much to take. I like it very much, but because of the smell, quite a few Japanese actually do not like it either.
 
If you are curious, please try it. You can buy it at Asian food shops in this country. I went to one of those shops in Hamilton the other day and bought it. The one I bought contained 4 packs (each pack is apparently 45g) and these four cost $ 4.19. The price was a bit higher than that in Japan, but the natto itself was indeed proper Japanese ones which you could find anywhere in Japan. Though I have to say we could buy many different types of natto (I mean natto produced by several different companies as well as slightly different texture ones and so on) in supermarkets in Japan. The one I bought there was only one the shop sold.
 
If you try natto, please prepare cooked rise as well. You can eat natto on its own, but Japanese people normally eat it with rice and I think you would enjoy it better in that way. Normally a natto package has two sachets: one is mustard, and the other one is soy souse flavoured sauce. Please pour these onto natto and stir them hard with chopsticks (I am sure a fork would do the job too if you do not have chopsticks). I also like to add finely chopped spring onion. It is certainly good for you. Bon a ppetit!   

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