Natto photo by jasja_dekker. Feature photo by tamakisono
If you’re visiting Japan, venture beyond sushi and and try the following weird foods.
These are the slimiest, hairiest, chewiest and smelliest foods commonly eaten in Japanese households.
1. Natto
Natto are fermented soybeans notorious for their pungent smell, which reminds some of dirty old socks. These slimy beans are commonly slurped for breakfast with hot rice, with the optional raw egg mixed in for added nutrition.
2. Umeboshi Plums
If you thought Lemon Heads were the sourest food of all, try placing an entire umeboshi plum in your mouth—it’s salty sour flavor will be sure to pucker your face.
Umeboshi photo by tamakisono
The potent red plums are rarely eaten on their own, used instead to season rice, vegetables and meats. I’ve even seen umeboshi flavored potato chips.
The Japanese believe that the umeboshi plums help ease nausea from motion sickness, and some carry around the freeze dried or individually wrapped version for air travel.
3. Mozuku
This stringy and soft seaweed may remind you of the handful of hair accumulated in your shower drain, but mozuku is far more nutritious.
The hairy seaweed has got fucoidan, a polysaccharide touted for its ability to enhance your killer T cell activity, giving your immune system an added boost.
Mozuku is usually served cold in a vinegar sauce to distract you from thinking that it’s the algae growing in the fish tank.
4. Shishamo
Shishamo photo by yomi955
Imagine a skinny little smelt with its entire body cavity crammed with millions of small crunchy eggs. These small fish are grilled and served on a platter with their heads and tails still on.
No chopsticks here – shishamo is finger food. Rip the fish head and tail off and nibble everything in between.
5. Inago
The small brown crickets resemble roaches when viewed from far away, but I assure you that roaches aren’t a part of the Japanese culinary repertoire.
Inago are caught in rice paddies and either fried crisp or cooked in a sugary soy sauce broth and served as a condiment with steamed rice. Everything on the critter is devoured—including its sex organs and puny brain.
6. Dried squid or octopus
Dried squid is the Japanese equivalent to beef jerky snacks, but with more omega 3s and a fishiness that can be smelled from across the room once a package has been opened.
Dried squid photo by sushiboy555
The squid or octopus is seasoned, then dried in shreds or rings. Try the jar of dried baby squid or dried octopus legs made extra chewy with its tentacles.
These dried cephalopods are usually served with some icy Sapporo beer.
7. Mochi
Mochi is a chewy rice cake made by pounding sweet glutinous rice and forming it into discs—commonly served on New Years Day, which is also the day when mochi choking incidents are the highest.
If you’re tired of your regular bubble gum, you can blow and pop bubbles with mochi instead. I find mochi delicious when served as a dessert, stuffed with sweetened azuki beans.
8. Konnyaku
Wobbly and low in calories, this rubbery rectangular lump is loved by dieters. Konnyaku is made from the wild Konnyaku potato. It’s very high in dietary fiber, which gets your system clean while expanding in your tummy and tricking you into feeling full.
You may identify konnyaku immediately in the nabemono (hot pot) because it’s slippery body is very difficult to grasp with chopsticks.
9. Koya dofu (freeze dried tofu)
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Koya dofu is tofu which has been freeze dried, and sold in many Japanese supermarkets.
Don’t attempt to eat it uncooked as you may chip your teeth. When cooked in broth, its texture becomes that of a sponge that soaks up flavors—much like your kitchen sponge soaking up sink water.
10. Niboshi (dried anchovies)
When you see a pile of niboshi, it may remind you of a morgue for desiccated small fish. These dried, salted anchovies are used to make dashi, or fish stock commonly used in Japanese cooking.
The crunch of niboshi are also enjoyed as snacks when sold pre-seasoned with a sweet and salty coating.
If you’re going to the movies, they’re available at concession stands, and their crunch is similar to that of popcorn – but fishier.
11. Anko (sweetened azuki bean paste)
Anko and Mochi photo by jim212jim
Most of us are used to eating our beans in savory dishes, and wouldn’t dream of eating them as a dessert.
Let this be an eye opener for you, as anko finds its way into many traditional Japanese sweets, ice-creams, popsicles and bread fillings.
You may forget that anko is made of beans, as the high sugar content often overpowers the bean flavor.
For beginners, visit a Japanese Dunkin Donut shop and have an anko filled doughnut with some coffee.
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31 Comments... join the discussion!
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Natto is definately an acquired taste. I thank my folks for having engrained it into my taste buds at an early age.
Did you know they sell “odor free” natto in Japan these days?
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Shirako is not fish itself but the testicle of any fish, one of dainties like Ankimo, the testicle of angler.
Something-ko is usually the row of a sort of fish like Tarako; the row of herring, Sujiko; the row of salmon, etc.
Probably, what you explained above is Shirasu, which is sometimes eaten with being topped on rice.↵ -
Mochi rules! At the Nagoya train station there was a place where the mochi were served cold, and if you didn’t eat them on the spot they’d give you a little paper bag with ice packs in it to keep the mochi cold. Raspberry creme were the best.
Be prepared in most places in Asia to be met with red bean paste when you think you’re getting chocolate…
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I think you’re talking about cream filled mochi? It seems like a trend these days in Japan to fill mochi with fruit flavored creams and custards. I can’t find it in the US, but the closest I’ve found is mochi ice cream.
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Nice, Pele, but remember: Shirako. Ugh…
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Shirako! how natsukashii
I remember my grandma piling shirako on rice with grated daikon radish for breakfast… and those itty bitty eyes on the fishies kept looking at me.
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I LOVE natto for breakfast – cheap, healthy, convenient and sort of tasty once you get used to it.
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If you like natto and rice, try natto with a raw egg, steamed okra, grated mountain yam and rice. It becomes slimier, and more delicious. Also try natto spaghetti: boil some pasta, rub with a generous dose of butter, and serve with natto. Heaven..
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OMG , squid ?
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Squid is delicious – dried or fresh. And it’s eaten in many different cultures.
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Yep, squid.
It’s smellier than the dried fish stuff–I think, but it’s fun to eat as there are no bones to worry about. Just tentacles and chewy flesh.
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Well, I have eaten some of them.
I don’t think that is very weird.
Anko is tasty too!↵ -
Ya know, I hesitated before using “weird” in the title. All of these foods are perfectly normal to me, and anyone else who has lived in Japan. The thing is, they DO seem weird to people without exposure to Japanese food…so I went with that phrasing.
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Anko is very good.
It’s time consuming to make at home, but very well worth the effort. My favorite sunday brunch is a stack of pancakes or waffles with lots of anko and maple syrup/molasses.
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Giving me great ideas for some of the “Unusual” morsels consumed in Okinawa and other places in Japan. A few hard to catch on camera because they keep wiggling while you’re eating them !
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Still wriggling? Really?
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Yup, still wiggling and staring back at you. This was in a high-class sushi bar up in Fukuoka. Have to check around and see if I can find one here. Haven’t been in many high-class resturants lately. I’ll find one and shoot it for ya; good sized fish,too. Probably get me on the SPCA hit list !
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I think I saw that on a food tv show in Japan. The couple visited a restaurant where they were served a broth with small fish still moving around. I can’t forget that expression on the consumer’s face after his first sip.
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Mochi on frozen yogurt is delicious!
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Great idea–healthier than mochi ice cream. How ’bout mochi on sorbet or with a chocolate fondue. mmm….
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Mozuku is the only vegetable-based food that I’ve ever tried and simply could not eat. It was served with breakfast at a monastery, and I’ve always wondered what it was called. Your description leave me with no doubt. The flavor screamed salty old fish! and I was bested.
Great article, and I know what you mean about not wanting to call it “weird” but it’s alien to Western palates, and well, a title was born.
Looking forward to reading more!
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Mozuku also reminds me of the algae growing in the fish tanks.
I don’t care for it either.. as for wierd Japanese foods, many of my Japanese acquaintances think that some of what we eat is “wierd” too. I’m thinking of the example of rice with milk, spices and raisins for breakfast. Thanks for your comment.
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what a hoot! I’ve eaten most of these (made mochi, myself). most are not to my taste…that fish one, eeuw.
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Wow, Jessiev.. you made mochi yourself? as in pounding the rice with those heavy hammers?
I’m envious! I have always wanted to make my own natto, but it seems a bit too risky and very time consuming.
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No! Inago is not eaten regularly in Japan, more so in 50 years ago, maybe..
because of the lack of nutritional food in that time.
I am a native Japanese and I have never eaten, even seen it.But everything else is correct. I love UMEBOSHI.. can’t live without it.
It’s like pickled olives, once you are hooked, you will crave for more..↵ -
My grandfather who once lived in rural Japan ate inago every year until his death in 1996–I think it was more of a nostalgic taste of the past than anything else. You’re right about Inago not being found in the more common supermarkets/eateries, but it still holds a place in the heart of a few people– and it deserves to be mentioned.
As for ume, it reminds me more of the green sour olives–not so much the black ones… the other close thing I found to ume was at an Indian restaurant. I had a plate of mixed pickles, and there was one made of Amla (kind of like a crunchy and sour Indian plum)
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Real Shishamo is served in Hokkaido only.
The ones served in other area are imported fakes.
Widely served Mozuku are mainly from Okinawa, which I do not like.
Ito-mozuku of Noto peninshula is crispier and much better.
Niboshi is not to eat but to take broth.
Anyway, the 5th sense for Umami is not developed for most of Americans.
So, some of Japanese food cannot be tasted by those Americans.↵ -
Thanks Ken for your comment. Didn’t know that there’s real and imported fake shishamo. I’m guessing the shishamo (non Japanese) is imported from Russia?
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You are half right, Pele. If I say exactly, there are two kinds of fake shishamo.
One (main) is from Sakhalin and the other is fished around Japan.
Both have different taste and smell from real shishamo, which is really dellicious.Also, my comment on shirako above for your reference though the post is located at wrong place.
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