The natto theory, expanded

The other day I made a post about some crazy theories I had but after looking over it I decided to delete it and focus on the most interesting part, the natto theory. I think it deserves a post of its own, because it's a relevant topic to any non-Japanese person living here.

Anyone who spends any time in Japan will eventually be asked to try natto with a wink and a smile - the friendly Japanese person just knows they're going to hate it, and of course they usually do. Natto is pretty damn harsh the first time you try it. And this results in the further continuation of the stereotype that foreigners just can't like natto. Period.

The thing is, though, some of us do. I like natto. Several of my friends do, too. You try anything enough times and you can learn to appreciate it.


Natto - like beer and coffee, modern jazz, acid rock, or line dancing - is quite repulsive and hard to swallow at first, but does have a certain quality to it that over time you learn to like. And in my opinion (and this was my original theory), I would bet most Japanese people also didn't like natto the first time they tried it as a kid. It was only over time that they learned to like it.

Now, my liking of natto doesn't make me any less foreign/more Japanese than people who hate it. It's just a food preference. It tells you nothing about the person beyond the fact that they like that food. Personally, I find comments I hear after someone sees me eating natto like, "Are you sure you're an American?" to be more annoying than the assumption that I didn't like it. It implies that I've abandoned a part of my heritage, or possibly that my being able to consume a food means I've leveled-up above the other foreigners living here. That gets on my nerves.

In the grand scheme of things it isn't a big deal, I know. I would rather be complimented for my Japanese ability than my ability to eat natto, sushi or shiokara, use chopsticks, or the fact that I take off my shoes when I enter my house, but oh well. Being asked the same questions over and over can be annoying, but like I've posted before, it isn't worth getting bent out of shape over.

If anyone has comments about the natto issue or any other things you've experienced as a foreigner living in Japan (or anywhere else), please feel free to leave them below.