Fermented Friend or Foe: Unwinding the Tangled “Nattō” Threads

The legendary father of nattō, Minamoto no Yoshiie, from the pages of Zenken kojitsu, a collection of biographies of famous figures written during the Edo period. (Courtesy of the National Diet Library)

Old-fashioned nattō made by wrapping cooked soybeans in rice straw.

A scene from the 1690 work Jinrin kinmō zui (an illustrated encyclopedia of humanity) depicting a street vendor (foreground) selling tataki nattō, fermented beans mixed with tōfu and pickled vegetables. (Courtesy of the National Diet Library)

Types of nattō packaging includes polystyrene trays and paper cups.

Nattō comes in a range of varieties, including cracked beans, whole beans, and black beans.