Simplifying the Process of Eating
In modern times where many food go across the ocean, perhaps Natto is not a new term for many. Natto is fermented soy beans, which has strong scent for Japanese food. What is worse, it is sticky. So sticky that you, your chopsticks, and a bowl that contains it, would end up being connected in one sticky slimy string unless you draw big circles in the air to detach one another.
Because of its appearance, smell, and perhaps the taste, Natto is one of the food many foreigners would raise as least favorite Japanese food. That is what makes Natto more delicious and people consider as soul food: a comparison may be, stinky dofu or half-hatched egg for Chinese or fermented ammonium-smelling sharks in Iceland.
The food was invented centuries ago, when people carried cooked food inside a bind of straws tied on two ends. The cooked soy beans accidentally fermented during the war, not having choice soldiers ate them and found surprisingly tasty. The bacteria, called Natto Bacteria, has also been found to be good for your gut, having similar effect as yogurt.
In modern times, manufacturers do not sell natto in straws. It is typically packed in styrene foam for individual consumption. The product also comes with a small sachet of sauce inside, on top of a thin transparent foil placed on top of natto.
The problem of this set up has been obvious to consumers for decades. First of all, those small sachets are impossible to open: even if you succeed, you are most likely to have some of soy or mustard on your hand since the sachet is so small. Second, the thin foil placed between the sachets and natto, always created a big mess. Every single soy bean create sticky strings between the foil, and it was almost impossible to get rid of.
But a company called Mizkan has come up with a simple, but a brilliant idea: they realized, that if the sauce can become more solid, they can remove the entire hassle of dealing with the foils and sachets.
Once you open the product, you will see that the foam container is split into two: one for natto and the other, for a jelly soy sauce. The only process you need from here, is to transfer this jelly into Natto, jelly will be moisturized and starts blending into the beans.
The idea basically have changed what has earlier considered as a routine for eating Natto. We find dozens of different choices in shelves of supermarkets, I believe Mizkan products have gained a huge advantage over the others, simply, by making the sauce slightly more solid.
