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

exploring applications of modifi ed soybean oil obtained
through plant breeding, (6) and identifying new product
concepts and areas for further improvements of soybeans
as food.” Address: Project Leader, Soyfoods Lab., Hartz
Seed–A Unit of Monsanto Co., Inc., 901 N. Park Ave.,
Stuttgart, Arkansas 72160. Phone: (870) 673-8565.
1610. Thompson, Keith. 1998. Breeding food-grade
soybeans at Hartz Seed Co. (Interview). SoyaScan Notes.
March 19. Conducted by William Shurtleff of Soyfoods
Center.
• Summary: Hartz’s natto breeding program is one of the
best models for developing food grade soybeans with what
are increasingly called “quality traits.” Frank Orthoefer, a
scientist with an MBA, is an expert in this fi eld–especially in
the area of proteins and oil. Frank used to work for Riceland
Foods in Stuttgart, but now he works for Hartz / Monsanto.
KeShun Liu was hired to work on tofu and natto. The
work with tofu has not progressed well, but the work with
natto has. From the Hartz viewpoint, Dr. Liu’s three most
important areas of research are breeding soybeans: (1) for
natto (which accounts for 30% of Hartz’s revenue), (2) that
are high in saturated fat, allowing elimination or reduction
of hydrogenation; and (3) that are high in total oil content.
Address: Food and Export Manager, Hartz Seed, P.O. Box
946, Stuttgart, Arkansas 72160. Phone: 800-932-7333.
1611. Iderabdullah, Bisi. 1998. History of work with
soybeans and soyfoods in Liberia. Part II (Interview).
SoyaScan Notes. April 6. Conducted by William Shurtleff of
Soyfoods Center.
• Summary: In December 1989 a bloody civil war began
in Liberia in the countryside. By July 1990 it had reached
Monrovia. Many orphaned and abandoned children were
brought to the Mission, so an orphanage and clinic sprang
into existence at a house next to their house, on an adjacent
compound, and was soon caring for about 30 kids. Bisi and
Mahmoud paid all expenses of the orphanage, clinic, and
Mission from their personal funds.
Bisi and her family returned to the USA after a ceasefi
re in late November 1990 and tried to solicit support to
help feed the many starving people in Liberia. She called
CARE and many other organizations, but with little results.
One day someone asked her: “What is the name of your
organization?” She had previously lost their fi fth child,
named Imani, so she said spontaneously “Imani House.”
The name stuck. Then she called The Farm–getting the
address from Ina Mae’s book. She was told that they had a
philanthropic arm named Plenty, but they no longer supplied
relief foods. Then she called Peter Schweitzer’s offi ce
in California to ask him what they could do to help–the
situation was very urgent and the world wasn’t paying much
attention. They got to know one another over the phone
and Peter said that Plenty would choose Imani House as a
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HISTORY OF NATTO AND ITS RELATIVES 498
group that they would work with. When they talked about
growing soybeans, Bisi thought it was “a little bit way out
for Liberia.”
Bisi and Chuck Haren (who had been sent by Plenty)
went together to the International Institute of Tropical
Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria. Chuck had already
taken their training program, but he wanted to introduce Bisi
to it. IITA people showed them how to grow soybeans, gave
them soybean varieties especially adapted to West Africa,
demonstrated simple machinery for pressing oil from the
soybeans, introduced them to the bumbum leaves they use
with lemon as a coagulant in the lab to make tofu, prepared
many different dishes from soybeans, and demonstrated
different quick and simple ways of making soymilk for use
as a beverage. They spent a lot of time with Dr. Sidi Osho,
an expert in soybean utilization. Bisi and Chuck were given
a tour of local businesses producing soyfoods, including one
that made Soyvita soymilk in Lagos. One chemist had turned
his distillery into a soymilk factory. In the market, they saw
soybeans being fermented to make dawa-dawa, a seasoning.
After seeing all these things at IITA, Bisi’s skepticism about
the potential of soyfoods in Liberia was largely overcome.
She and Chuck returned to Liberia.
Returning to Liberia, Bisi and Mahmoud changed
the name of their African Islamic Mission to “Imani
House;” they didn’t want to be killed because they were
Muslims–which happened a lot in Liberia during the war.
Their original mission, to teach agriculture and education,
remained unchanged.
Originally Bisi had assumed that the agricultural work
of Imani House would have to be done in the countryside,
outside of Monrovia. But by 1990 she realized that urban
agriculture was a real possibility.
Bisi and Chuck fi rst planted soybeans in Liberia in about
1991. The seed came from two sources: They brought back
about 6 kg of specially adapted seed from IITA, and the rest
they bought in a local market in Liberia; the latter soybeans
had come in to Liberia as a relief food and the people were
rejecting them (they took too long to cook; the local people
thought they were split peas), so they were selling at a very
low price. They supervised the planting of these soybeans at
8 different sites, in small plots totaling about 1 acre, in and
around Monrovia–no further than 25 miles away. The United
Nations provided an agronomist (Mr. Sha of UNDP), who
planted some of the seeds incorrectly; they were viable and
they germinated. Imani House had 5 acres of land on which
they planted one small plot. None of the 8 plots grew well.
The war was going on and people grew the soybeans on
poor soil that they would not ordinarily use. The plots did
not yield enough soybeans to eat, but they did yield enough
seeds to replant. The seeds from IITA did the best, but they
never gave good yields. The bean beetle became the biggest
plague, eating through the leaves. Bisi used compost and
many organic methods. The farmers wanted to spray a lot