First, allow me to begin this article by suspending any pretense of objectivity. Natto is the worst thing ever.

An assault on all five senses, it smells bad, tastes bad, looks bad, feels bad and yes, it even sounds bad.

If you’ve never heard of it before, basically put, natto is old beans. Old, old, horrible beans that are eaten in Japan, often with breakfast.

You have to wonder what possessed someone to want to ferment beans. But considering Japan’s penchant for creating the craziest snack flavours, as horrible as the idea is, it’s simultaneously surprising that it took this long, in the year of our lord 2018, for natto potato chips to come into existence.

After the success of the okonomiyaki flavour chips, in which a sachet was provided in the packet for you to season the chips yourself, snack makers Calbee wanted to add to their resume of ‘sprinkle and eat’ products.

Out of all the culinary offerings from Japan and all over the world they settled on natto flavour. The chips are already dashi-soy sauce and mustard flavoured, a taste which apparently suits natto well. You can then open up the sachet of 'natto flakes' and add as much or as little as you please.

Regardless of my personal views, these old beans have actually got plenty of fans and are lauded for their health benefits (probably not present in the potato chips). So if you want to pick up this godless creation for yourself you can find them in Lawson convenience stores all over Japan.