Sushi

Sushi is a type of Japanese food. Sushi typically contains raw fish and vegetables rolled in rice. Sushi can contain other ingredients such as cooked fish, vegetables, or fruit and can be rolled in seaweed, soy paper, or thinly sliced vegetables or fish. Sushi has been a staple in Japanese cuisine since about the ninth century, and it remains popular in the twenty-first century. Many sushi chefs consider making sushi an art form that takes years to perfect.

History

The word sushi means "sour rice," and it was originally used to describe the process of fermenting and preserving fish. The Japanese word su means "vinegar," and shi comes from the word meshi, which means "rice." As time passed, the word sushi came to describe the vinegar rice-and-fish pieces developed by chefs in Japan. Sushi differs from sashimi, which is thinly sliced raw fish not accompanied by rice.

Sushi was introduced to Japan during the ninth century. It became popular with Buddhists because they abstained from eating meat. The first sushi dish was not rolled; it was a dish of compacted preserved fish and fermented rice. This fish-and-rice dish was called nare-zushi, or aged sushi.

A popular form of nare-zushi known as funa-zushi used a carp known as funa. It was packed in salted rice and left to ferment for about six months. Sometimes weights were used to compact the rice-fish mixture to speed up fermentation. Because the process took so long, sushi was expensive and usually was eaten by the wealthy.

During the fifteenth century, Japanese chefs began to add more weight to the nare-zushi to speed up the process. They also left the fish partially raw. This new sushi was known as mama-nare zushi or raw nare-zushi

Tokugawa Ieyasu, a shogun, moved the capital of Japan from Kyoto to Edo in the early seventeenth century. The new capital quickly became a hub of Japanese life and one of the world's largest cities by the nineteenth century. Sushi became popular in the city. By this time, sushi chefs were using a process that allowed the food to ferment in just a few hours. They coated a layer of cooked rice in vinegar, added a layer of fish, and compressed the layers in a small box. After about two hours, the fish and rice mixture was sliced into pieces and eaten.

More developments and improvements continued. In 1824, Hanaya Yohei opened a sushi restaurant in the Ryogoku area of Edo. He chose the area because it was located near the Sumida River. He created another method to make sushi that did not require time to ferment. He added vinegar and salt to the rice, formed it into a ball, and then topped the rice with a slice of fresh, raw fish. The fish did not need to be preserved or fermented because it was eaten immediately. This method allowed chefs to create sushi in a few minutes instead of waiting hours or days for the fermentation process. Yohei's restaurant was popular, and this type of sushi because known as nigiri sushi.

This method was soon imitated, and sushi carts known as yatai popped up everywhere. After the Great Kantō earthquake in 1923, land prices decreased significantly. This allowed sushi vendors to ditch their carts for indoor restaurants. Sushi restaurants known as sushi-ya became very popular throughout Edo. By the 1950s, the sushi carts had fallen out of favor in lieu of small indoor sushi restaurants.

Advances in technology in the 1960s and 1970s led to better refrigeration methods. This allowed fresh fish to be shipped to other parts of Japan. Soon, fish was shipped to other nations, expanding sushi's popularity outside of Japan. Sushi first arrived in the United States around 1966 in Los Angeles, California. Partners Noritoshi Kanai and Harry Wolff opened Kawafuku Restaurant in the Little Tokyo section of the city that year. It offered nigari-style sushi. By 1970, sushi had reached Hollywood and then made its way to New York City and Chicago, Illinois.

Overview

The reach of sushi continued to grow, and the food itself continued to evolve into the twenty-first century. By this time, many styles of sushi existed. The process of making sushi is still considered an art form that can takes years for chefs to master. Chefs pride themselves on making sushi that not only tastes great but also looks like art on a plate.

Nigiri, also called nigirizushi, is the most traditional style of sushi. It is made with mounds of vinegar rice topped with either thinly sliced raw fish, vegetable, or tamago (egg omelet). It is eaten upside down with the rice turned upward.

Maki rolls, also called makizushi, are the most popular. They are cylindrical rolls of rice and other ingredients wrapped together and sliced into bite-sized pieces. They are usually rolled in nori (seaweed), slices of cucumber, soy paper, or omelette skin. Maki rolls with the rice on the outside are called uramaki.

Inarizushi is a piece of fried tofu filled with rice. Chirashi or chirashizushi (also called a sushi bowl or scattered sushi) is a bowl of vinegar rice, raw fish, vegetables, and other ingredients. Temaki, or hand roll, is similar to a maki roll but is served as an individual cone-shaped piece wrapped in nori.

Oshizushi is square-shaped sushi made of rice and vegetables and formed by using a wooden mold. Narezushi is close to the original form of sushi known as nare-zushi. Fish and rice are seasoned with vinegar and salt and then left to ferment for a few months. When it is ready to eat, the rice is discarded and only the fish is consumed.

In Japan, sushi is simple and usually does not contain more than one type of fish and vegetable. In the United States and other parts of the world, chefs mix different types of fish (raw and cooked) and vegetables and roll them with rice, nori, or soy paper. They also use nontraditional sushi ingredients, such as avocado, fruits, cream cheese, and spicy mayonnaise. Chefs may also deep-fry the rolls to give them a crispy texture. This style of sushi is called Western-style or California-style. In Japan, people eat sushi with wasabi, and they eat pickled ginger to cleanse the palate. In other parts of the world, many people mix wasabi with soy sauce and the pickled ginger and dip the pieces in the mixture. Sushi is meant to be eaten in one bite, though some larger pieces may be eaten in two bites. It can be eaten with the hands or chopsticks.

Bibliography

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Kennedy, Brittany. "The Different Kinds of Sushi: Types, Names, and Photos." Delishably, 29 June 2024, delishably.com/meat-dishes/The-Different-Kinds-of-Sushi. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.

Koh, Meryl. "Did Sushi Come from Japan? All You Need to Know about the Beloved Dish." Peak, 20 Mar. 2017, thepeakmagazine.com.sg/gourmet-travel/the-peak-expert-sushi-japan. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.

Lhuillery, Jacques. "It Takes Years to Perfect the Art of Making Sushi." Business Insider, 5 Feb. 2013, www.businessinsider.com/it-takes-years-to-perfect-the-art-of-making-sushi-2013-2. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.

Renton, Alex. "How Sushi Ate the World." The Observer, 26 Feb. 2006, www.theguardian.com/world/2006/feb/26/japan.foodanddrink. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.