Clockwise from top-left: Tofu, Mabo Tofu, Rice, Miso Soup, Natto

Super healthy Japanese superfood Natto (Fermented Soybeans)

It’s been more than 3 years since I am living in Japan and I have always been curious to know the secret behind Japanese people’s long and healthy life. Food and lifestyle are two main ways one can keep themselves healthy. Amongst the healthy foods Japanese people eat, soybean is one of the foods that tops this list. And the great thing is, it is a vegetarian food! Japanese eat soybeans in so many forms!

In my daily life I eat soybean in the following forms:

1. Tofu: Tofu is like paneer but made of soy milk (which itself is another soy product!). Sometimes I buy Tofu from local supermarkets and eat at home with dinner. Other times, I often eat Tofu which is provided as a side dish in office cafetaria’s lunch menu. Interestingly, in summers, the provided Tofu is cold and in winters it is warm. What’s more? people often put soy sauce on top of tofu to add taste to tofu :P
2. Miso soup: Miso soup is another common side dish in daily diet of Japanese people. Japanese people living overseas also make sure to buy Miso soup for their daily use. I get miso soup most of the days in my office cafeteria’s lunch. It is a warm soup that I drink after finishing my food and it has a mild soothing taste.
3. Soy sauce: The Japanese food that I eat sometimes have soy sauce in it. It is a common ingredient in Japanese kitchen. It is used in the soup of noodles (like Ramen, soba etc.). Most noodle dishes in Japan are soupy and not dry. It used to add taste to food like in shabu shabu.
4. Edamame: It looks just like green peas although a little different. It is common vegetable in Japan unlike green peas which is hard to find. I eat it sometimes especially when I go to Izakaya (Japanese styled restaurants).
5. Dry soy beans: Dry soybeans are hard (like almonds). I rarely buy it. I don’t think it is often eaten by Japanese people either. It is popular in a festival called setsubun and I bought it at that time once.
6. Natto (Fermented soybeans): This is what I am most excited about. Because unlike food listed above, this one is not known much in India. It is sticky, smelly, strange looking food but super healthy and is almost daily eaten by Japanese people. I did not like it much when I ate it first time, but the more I ate it the more I started liking it. Recently, I eat natto many times in a week as a side dish in my dinner. I would like to talk more about Natto below.

Please see this video of how Natto looks like:

The two sauces really make the natto very delicious to eat. These are mustard (yellow one) and soy sauce (brown one).

Natto is made by fermenting the soybeans with Bacillus subtillis — a bacteria which is also found in our digestive system.

Probably not scientifically proven, but I won’t be surprised if one of the secrets for long life of Japanese people is Soy bean!!

I wish that the benefits of this wonderful food are more widely spread throughout the world. Do give this food a try if you get a chance or try making it at home! Please leave any questions or comment about this if you have.