TOKYO, July 16 — Growth in sales of fermented soybeans, or naotto, has rocketed over the past few years, as Japanese consumers are getting more conscious of healthy eating, transforming once the soul food into the country’s healthy food.
Typically, natto is served as part of a Japanese breakfast style, which includes rice, miso soup and grilled fish. Notoriously, natto stinks — like cheese or old socks — with its web of sticky strings when you mix it.
The sales of natto in 2016 rose 16% from a year ago to a record 214 billion yen, on the back of a higher price range of Japanese-made soybeans. Natto that used Japanese-made soybeans doubled over the last three years, to account for nearly 20 percent of total volumes.
Natto producers, who learned from the past booms and bursts of the food, have also been looking into a new way to run a profitable and sustainable business: keep it local.
Murata Shoten Co. Ltd., a trading company specialized in natto sales in Nagano city, north-west of Tokyo, involved local producers improving the quality of local soybeans and has expand steadily its sales network to local schools, hotels and other businesses.
President Shigeru Murata says: “The idea of locally produced and consumed is certainly an effective way to raise profitability of natto and soybean output.”