You probably think you have heard about every superfood out there. We cycled through kale, chia seeds, goji berries, and whatever green powder was trending last week. But there is a food sitting in the freezer section of your local Asian market that most people in the US have never touched.
It is called natto. And it might be the most effective, completely unglamorous food for your digestion.
Natto is just soybeans fermented with a specific bacteria. It sounds completely normal until you open the package. It smells strongly of ammonia and aged cheese. When you stir it, it creates these thick, sticky, spiderweb like strings.
I tried it for the first time a few years ago. I thought I liked adventurous food. I stared at the bowl, took a bite, and immediately understood why it is an acquired taste. It is aggressively earthy. But then you look at what it actually does for your body, and suddenly the weird texture starts to seem like a small price to pay.
What Makes It Work
The whole natto gut health conversation comes down to two things happening at exactly the same time.
First, you have the fiber. Soybeans are already fiber bombs. A small serving of natto, which is usually around a half cup, gives you about 5 grams of fiber. That is the same amount you get from a large apple, but it comes without the sugar spike.
Second, the fermentation process creates a massive colony of probiotics. But not just any probiotics. The bacteria used to make natto is incredibly tough. Most of the live cultures in expensive yogurt die as soon as they hit your stomach acid. The bacteria in natto has a protective shell that helps it survive the trip all the way to your intestines, where it actually does the work.
You get the fiber to sweep things out, and the heavy duty bacteria to replenish the good guys. All in one weird little package.
How to Actually Eat It
If you try to eat natto straight out of the container with a spoon, you are going to have a bad time. Do not do that.
There is a very specific way people eat this in Japan, and it works because it balances out the intensity. You want a bowl of warm, steamed white rice. Not brown rice, not quinoa. The soft texture of white rice helps absorb some of the sliminess.
Most natto packs come with two tiny packets inside. One is a savory soy sauce based liquid, and the other is a spicy yellow mustard. You open the natto, dump the packets in, and stir it aggressively with chopsticks. The more you stir, the frothier and stickier it gets. That is exactly what you want. Then you slide it over the rice.
I like to add chopped green onions on top. The sharp bite of the onion cuts right through the funky, fermented taste. Some people add a raw egg yolk, but you really do not have to go that far if you are just starting out.
Where to Find It
You will not find natto sitting next to the tofu at a regular grocery store. You have to go to an Asian supermarket. Look in the frozen section.
It is sold in stacks of three or four small styrofoam containers, wrapped in plastic. It is also ridiculously cheap. A pack of three usually costs around two or three dollars. You just keep them in your freezer, and move one to the fridge the night before you want to eat it so it can thaw.
Dealing with the Texture
Let’s be honest about the texture. The Japanese word for it is neba-neba, which translates to sticky and slimy.
If you cannot handle the texture over rice, you can try mixing it into something else. Some people fold it into a scrambled egg right at the end of cooking, so it warms up without getting blasted by high heat. You can also mix it into a strong flavored soup like miso. Just remember that boiling it will kill the probiotics, so add it right before you eat.
You do not need to eat it every single day. Even tossing it into your meal rotation a couple of times a week could make a noticeable difference in how your stomach feels. It is cheap, it is real food, and it skips all the marketing hype of a forty dollar supplement.
You just have to get past the smell.