Yesterday we took Iris to the [bun bakery](http://www.belleepicurean.com/) and the central library. As we entered the children’s section of the library, I spied a book that appeared to be a children’s book about *bibimbap*. On closer inspection, it turned out to be a children’s book about bibimbap.

Bibimbap, for the uninitiated, is a Korean dish consisting of a bowl of rice topped with assorted flavorful meats and vegetables and a fried egg. My favorite variation is dolsot bibimbap, where the rice is placed in a dangerously hot stone bowl and the egg is cracked over the top, raw. The bottom of the rice gets brown and crunchy, a condition I like to call “crunchy rice bottom” and which is also highly valued in certain Persian dishes.

I get dolsot bibimbap sometimes at my local Korean restaurant, and I had to develop an elaborate pantomime over the course of several visits to convince them that I actually wanted the raw egg. In retrospect, I should have just looked up the Korean for “I’d like a raw egg.” Bibimbap is not complete without a large dose of *kochujang*, Korean hot sauce.

The kid’s book is great, and Iris demanded it at bedtime, even though she has never tried bibimbap. As I read it, I had a sense of deja vu, and I remembered that the very first time we went to the central library, I spied what appeared to be a children’s book about *natto*. It turned out to be a children’s book about natto.

Natto, for the uninitiated, is a Japanese torture device consisting of soybeans fermented with an evil bacterium that turns them into a stringy and foul-smelling mass. There’s an Iron Chef episode devoted to natto, and it is ten times scarier than Shark Week.

A Japanese-speaking friend explained that the story is about a kid who asks his grandfather how natto is made, and his grandfather shows him. Probably the kid was looking for a ten-second answer, or perhaps his grandfather is hard of hearing, and what the kid actually asked was, “Why do I have to eat this?”

Perhaps you don’t believe me. Well, I have pictures.

* Front cover
* Confronting the demon
* Initiated into the cult

I told my friend Rob, who has lived in Japan, about the natto book. “Have you ever had natto?” I asked him.

“Sure, I have it for breakfast every day,” he replied. And he was serious. I guess that is one way to kick ass. If you wake up with natto, the rest of the day is going to be cake.

Okay, I realize natto is probably no more an acquired taste than Thai shrimp paste, which I like, but it’s not like you run into natto that often in Seattle, so it’s easier to just make fun of it.