History of Natto and Its Relatives (1405-2012 - SoyInfo Center

author discusses tofu (and how to make it at home with or
without fermentation), meitauza (fermented okara), hakko
tofu (a newly developed high protein food; fermented
soybean curd), sufu (Vietnamese call it Chao), shoyu, miso,
ketjap (thick Indonesian soy sauce [probably ketjap manis]),
tempeh, Hamanatto, natto, Tao-cho from Malaysia, and Taosi
[fermented black soybeans] from the Philippines.
Note: The author has collected her information (both
correct and incorrect) for a number of sources, which she
does not cite directly, although she does have a bibliography.
619. Ito, Kazuo. 1973. Issei: A history of Japanese
immigrants in North America. Translated by Shinichiro
Nakamura and Jean S. Gerard. Seattle, Washington:
Executive Committee for Publication of Issei, c/o Japanese
Community Service, 1414 S. Weller St., Seattle, WA 98144.
xxviii + 1016 p. Illust. Index of personal names only. 24 cm.
Translation of Hyakunen Sakura. [100* ref. Eng]
• Summary: This massive book is basically a history of
fi rst-generation Japanese immigrants to Pacifi c Northwest
(especially Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia),
focusing on the great struggles and hardships they met,
written from the viewpoint of individual Japanese who
tell their stories (often in the fi rst person), and compiled
by a Japanese journalist. The book was fi rst published in
Japanese. Access to the wealth of information it contains
is crippled by the lack of a subject index. So if one were
looking for information about tofu, miso, or soyfoods, one
would have to read the entire book. The index of personal
names is well done.
At the very front of this book are very interesting maps
of the old Japanese districts of the following cities: Seattle,
Tacoma, and Spokane, Washington; Portland, Oregon;
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Unfortunately,
none of the maps are dated. The name and location of
each Japanese organization or business is shown clearly in
English. In the part on “Japanese exclusion,” the section
titled “The smell of race” [very interesting] (p. 227-28)
states: “Exclusionists especially point out that Japanese
favorite foods and condiments, such as miso, soy sauce,
radishes and pickles, are intolerable [in smell]... The
neighboring whites complained loudly that they just could
not stand the smell of cooking soy sauce... A Japanese
smells like miso, and whites in general exude faint waves of
the odor of butter and cheese. The smell of their underarm
perspiration is really strong.”
In the part on “Railroads,” the section titled “Life of
Yoshiichi Tanaka” notes that he worked with a gang of young
Japanese bachelors who were all trying to save money.
For breakfast they had miso soup, which was delicious, so
everyone ate more, which caused food expenses to rise. “So
we skimped on miso and merely added salt for fl avor.” For
lunch they sometimes had “fi sh cooked in soy sauce, or a
half cake of tofu (bean curd cheese), or radish, carrots and
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HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 213
beef boiled hard with soy,...” “In the Japanese restaurant in
Seattle we could fi ll up on miso soup, rice and pickles for
only 10¢...”
The part on “Alaska” (p. 355) is mostly about work
in the canneries: “We shipped Japanese foods such as rice,
soy sauce, miso, dried kelp [kombu] for soup base, dried
sea slugs,... fu (a light cake made of wheat gluten), dried
seaweed,...” Page 359 mentions soy sauce and miso soup
with salmon.
The part on “Sawmills” states (p. 402): “The food
was Japanese–fi rst class rice imported from Japan,... and
koyadofu (a dish made from bean curd). For breakfast they
served miso soup with vermicelli in it. Lunch was rice, and
fi sh and vegetables boiled hard with soy sauce.” On Sundays
they had red bean soup with mochi (rice cake).
Under “Supplementary food” (p. 408-09): The meals
were mostly Japanese. Breakfast: miso soup... Dinner:
Sukiyaki. “Some people bought things from Seattle stores
like bottles of pickled bean curd (funyu), salted sea urchin,
fermented soy beans [natto], salted plums, or seaweed
preserved by boiling in soy sauce (nori no tsukudani),...”
In 1907 we spent $5 to $6 per month for food, and it
was poor. For breakfast we ate miso soup and rice;... for
lunch rice cooked together with aburage (fried bean curd)... I
bought canned salmon and poured soy sauce and sugar on it
for dinner. For Saturday dinner we had sukiyaki.
Page 410: Breakfast was tofu in miso soup with pickles
and rice. Page 411: Deer meat sukiyaki.
In the part on “Agriculture,” we read that Japanese
immigrants to American sometimes enjoyed Japanese
soyfoods. In about 1910, in Fife, a farming community near
Seattle, in about 1910, Gunji Fujimoto “had miso soup and
pickles for breakfast” (p. 440). In about 1916, in Hood River
(northern Oregon), Henry Nakamura wrote that Japanese
people could get foods from Japan, including “fried bean
curd” (p. 499-500). There they also enjoyed miso soup for
breakfast, cooked red beans [azuki] spread on bread for
lunch, and rice, pickles, and dried radish strips cooked with
soy sauce for dinner (p. 503). In the early 1920s in Oregon,
breakfast typically consisted of rice, miso soup, and pickled
cucumbers (Shoemon Nakamura, p. 512).
The part on “Mines” in 1917 (p. 557): “Dinner was
Japanese style with stews, beef and tofu cooked together
with soy, fi sh, miso soup, rice and so on.”
Page 568: “The meals at Endo camp were notorious.
Breakfast was miso soup and pickles with rice. When the
population increased, the amount of soup was increased
by adding water, not miso. The contents of the soup were
always wakame (seaweed)” all year long... “Mr. Endo laid in
a huge stock of left-over seaweed and fried dried bean curd,
and miso, soy sauce and pickles.”
Part 20, “On the Streets,” states that “The old Japanese
towns in Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, and Vancouver (Canada)
can hardly be traced today.” The author has tried to