Source: thumbnail photo by React







●Introduction

My American wife eats natto, but it’s not her favorite. I, a Japanese citizen, recommended her to eat natto a couple of years ago because I thought it would be good for her health. Now she eats natto maybe 4 times every week. I eat natto every day and I think it’s delicious !

I introduced a YouTube footage that explains very well about how American people feel about eating natto and explained how ingrained natto is in Japanese food culture in my article below.

What is natto ?

Natto is a traditional Japanese food made from fermented soybeans. The picture above is natto. Natto has a powerful and strong smell and a sticky and slimy texture.

American kids tasted natto for the first time. What were their reactions??

A YouTube channel, React, did an interesting exeriment in the footage below.











Source: photo by React

Source: photo by React

The pictures above shows their reaction and it explains very well how they took it lol.

Most of the kids could not even swallow it because of the smell !

The video asked kids if they would recommend other people to eat natto. Only one kid recommended it just to understand how horrible the taste was.

How often do Japanese and American people eat natto ?

As shown in the footage by React above, most of American people do not like natto. The American people I know who eat natto are only an American from Hawaii, an American with Korean parents, an American who have a strong interest in Japan, and my wife. Actually, the American person I know who eats natto regularly is only my wife. So, when I calculated the percentage of American people who eat natto out of all of my American acquaintance, friends, relatives, etc, it was less than 1%.

On the other hand, about 90% of Japanese people eat natto according to Japan natto cooperative society federation. The graph below illustrates how often Japanese people eat natto.











There are about 13% of Japanese people who do not eat natto at all, which was surprising for me. I anticipated that about 99% of Japanese people would eat natto because the food is ingrained in Japanese food culture. The 13% of Japanese people do not like natto because of the same reasons as American people have. They don’t like natto’s smell and its slimy texture.

Summary

・Most American people do not like to eat natto. Even some Japanese people do not like natto. According to Japan natto cooperative society federation, there are about 13% of Japanese people who don’t eat natto at all.

・Japan natto cooperative society federation says that natto can improve your digestion. The probiotics in natto can help reduce gas, constipation, and antibiotic-associated diarrhea. I can guarantee that effect of natto from my experience. I recommend you to eat natto everyday.





