Natto Bagel

Jun 17, 2008 • Food

The very intrepid Marie Mockett @ Japundit tried a bagel with natto and what I’m assuming to be cream cheese on top. On first sight, the bagel lover in me cringed. Natto is delicious and healthy but to subject a bagel to its sticky strings? That’s just wrong (and a waste of a perfectly good bagel). I was clearly fighting 2 loved breakfast foods that, up until recently, had never met.

Then the gastronomic adventurer clubbed the bagel lover and I thought, “Why not? I like bagels. I like cream cheese. I like natto. Why eat only 2 things I like when there could be 3 things I like?”¹ So I decided to sacrifice a bagel to see for myself what, exactly, a natto bagel tastes like.

My first thought was that it be like the natto sandwich but on double-checking the story, found out that the natto sandwich requires whipped cream and coffee jelly. Suddenly, the natto bagel didn’t seem so bad anymore - at least it’s just a bread/natto combo vs. a bread/dessert/natto combo.² Then I remembered some of my friends telling me they eat natto on toast. Probably a similar experience.

So with that little background in mind, I loaded up the quaking whole wheat bagel with cream cheese and then chopsticked the natto on top. I should point out that I added the packet of soy sauce and hot mustard - no clue whether Marie Mockett did so but it does affect the flavor. At this point, the bagel no longer looks like my wonderful breakfast food but a sad, miserable husk of what could have been delicious. I started to wonder if this was a bad idea.

The natto bagel has an interesting taste. It was salty, creamy, and not unpleasant in flavor, although the texture was still different. For me, it reminded me very much of a very stinky Velveeta. For those of you outside the realm of Kraft’s preprocessed little talons, Velveeta is an oil-based cheese substance that theoretically tastes like cheddar. In other words, natto on a cream cheese bagel can create the illusion of cheap cheddar substance. But with the cost of imported cheese, or any cheese in general, I can’t really complain.

Would I try this again? Absolutely! And I have. I actually prefer the natto bagel to the breakfast bagel sandwiches that powered me through college. The breakfast bagel sandwich is either greasy or too soft, like steamed bread, whereas the natto bagel is drier and definitely not greasy. The only downside to eating one is that you can’t pile the natto on too high - otherwise, it will fall down the sides and the hole, leaving you with a lot of sticky strings to round up. So spread it thinly, don’t mix it much so the strings are low, and enjoy.

I’ve been told men think similarly when confronted with sexually attractive twins…that I stoop to this level is embarrassing. [↩]
I doubt I’ll see Yamazaki market this any time soon but if they do, I’ll buy it for the experience. [↩]

Comments

double

Added on Jun 17 2008 at 02:50

I have a great dislike for Natto. I still remember how I tried so hard to reject the Natto served at breakfast during my homestay in Chiba last year.

issa-sa

Added on Jun 17 2008 at 12:57

This so reminds me of Yakitate Japan XD The trick is to use a soy based bread!! Or something…

Caitlin

Added on Jun 17 2008 at 18:12

@double: What’s the most unappealing thing about natto for you?

@issa-sa: Sadly enough, I don’t remember that episode. I should go back and watch it again. :(

Added on Jun 17 2008 at 19:46

natto sandwich sounds and looks wicked

Shin

Added on Jun 17 2008 at 21:06

Reminds me of the can of red beans I used to spread over a slice of bread back in training camp.

double

Added on Jun 17 2008 at 21:13

It has got to be the taste. I’ve never really like anything beany, and fermented beans sounds like the most wicked bean ever. It doesn’t look that bad though, since it appears to me as peanut butter with lots of nuts.