How do you eat sushi?

[KathrynAragon]

Originally Posted by OpenD

No, I was trying to correct a fundamental and widespread misunderstanding. When you mention sushi to someone who hasn't tried it, they usually respond with something about not liking raw fish, or not knowing if they would. They see "sushi" and "raw fish" as synonyms, when they are not. Matter of fact, there are quite a few kinds of sushi that are vegan, and others that use cooked fish. The "sour taste" rice, however is the common theme running through all of it.

It's not about me being right, or about me being overbearing, it's about making sushi more accessible to people. That's what I care about. There's really something for almost anybody in a sushi restaurant, if they can only get past the misunderstanding that sushi is just raw fish.



Yeah, it's temaki, as I'm sure you know. It tastes the same whether or not you use the correct name, but I personally think it's more fun to learn the authentic names for things, as well as the authentic ways of serving and eating them. You can do whatever you wish.

I know you're catching a lot of flak on this thread - some of it from me. Actually I applaud you for being so sincere and inquisitive about learning all you can about different food cultures, and educating others when given the opportunity.

The only issue I have is that often when a person is in this mode, they are judgmental of others and jump to conclusions - such as "They don't know it's considered low class to mix their wasabi with their soy sauce in Japan."

I wanted to point out to you that many people HAVE heard that before - and just don't care, for a wide variety of reasons that may not include being "low class" or "insensitive" at all. And therefore, it's irritating for someone else to point out to them that they would consider them "boorish." Frankly, it just seems petty.

To put it in perspective:

In Germany, it's considered rude to eat with one's hand in one's lap, and ridiculous to eat with a fork in your right hand - you cut your meat with a knife in your right hand and hold the fork in your left, then stab the meat with the fork and put it in your mouth. Why would you switch hands? Germans think it's so odd that we do that.

When I am in Germany, I make an effort to conform to their expectations, though I freely admit that I may occasionally forget myself and catch myself with my hand in my lap or starting to switch hands with my fork. But it's a learning experience to try it their way. In fact, to this day, I unconsciously alternate between the "European" way of cutting and eating meat, and the "American" way in the US - and no one seems to care. I certainly don't.

But when I am IN THE US and eating in a German restaurant - I don't even ATTEMPT to apply German table manners - I don't care if the chef and the entire staff are German. I'm in the US - I'm doing it "our way." I would feel pretentious otherwise - and a bit goofy.

Same with US sushi restaurants. I'm not out to "impress" any strangers with my Japanese culture affectations.

But to each his own - I certainly won't mind if you do so - as long as you don't look down your nose at me when I don't. Or assume I "don't know any better."

And once again, I do applaud you on your passion for learning about and enjoying other cultures.

[lvoc]

Originally Posted by sunsprit

Sorry, but you're totally wrong on the ready availability and excellent quality of sashimi/sushi grade fish in the western USA as far back as the late 1950's-early 1960's ... when I was introduced to Japanese restaurants in SoCal and at school friend's family homes. It was probably readily available when the fishing fleet in the area was in it's heyday many years before, but that's before my time ... keep in mind that there was a significant Japanese presence on the West Coast long before WW2 ... as evidenced by the many people (including native-born US Citizens of Japanese descent) that were sent to internment camps at the outset of WW2.

I was introduced to sashimi by school friends when we went fishing or sailing off SoCal. Never came back from a day's racing without tossing a white bone lure off the stern of the boat and trolling on the way back into the marina ... if the waters were warm enough, we could typically entice a yellowtail or mackeral to bite; in very good fishing years, perhaps an albacore. If we were heading out just for fishing, then we'd stop by the bait receivers and get a few scoops of live bait so we could fly-line them over by the kelp paddies offshore.

IIRC, the first Japanese restaurant I went to was The Miyako in San Diego ... and I'm pretty certain it was in business for many years before I went there, but it was only one of several such restaurants in the area.

We had ready access, thanks to the San Diego based commercial fishing fleet ... as well as nearby sportfishing grounds ... to yellowtail, albacore, bonito, yellow fin tuna, mackeral, dorado, marlin ... and a host of bottom fish. Nothing could have been or was fresher or better quality than these species out of the water ranging from mere minutes to several hours. I learned to cut out slabs of the prime flanks of these fish when I was still in elementary school and to enjoy the sashimi minutes out of the water. Back then, we didn't know about the potential for parasites that we couldn't visibly see when skinning and cleaning the fish ....

In years since, on fishing boats offshore, we've always enjoyed sashimi on fish that was chilled/frozen overnight before thawing for serving. I've fished all the way from the San Diego area ... Coronado islands ... past Cedros Island and down to Cabo. If we weren't eating sashimi, we were preparing ceviche with the readily available limes ....

As well, all through those years, we had the salmon fishery from the Pacific Northwest producers and ready access to some of the finest salmon in the world. I know that there were at least several sushi bars/Japanese restaurnants in the Seattle area ... having been to a number of them when we went there for the World's Fair.

Point is, that there was a significant Japanese ethnic population on the West coast for many decades before you claim that a reliable source of sushi grade fish was possible due to flights from Japan to supply their restaurants.

Come to think of it, we had an excellent abalone source in the shoreline areas of SoCal in those years, with pinks and reds instead of the crappy blacks that are the typical abalone source in Japanese cuisine. Along with that, we had salt water eels, clams, octopus, and mussels all readily and freshly available in SoCal, with seasonal availability of crab from the Pacific Northwest fisheries. We sure in heck weren't dependent upon the fish market in Tokyo supply ... which gets a lot of it's fish from far offshore fisheries from Japan, actually now from a world-wide market supply. Ever heard of the blue-fin market for sushi grade quality tuna from the Eastern USA fisheries?

I don't doubt your views at all. But that is not the Sushi industry. From a good Japanese friend of my age group effectively the Japanese restaurant industry completely went out of business during WWII for the obvious reasons and only began to come back in the late 60s with the availability of suitable supply out of Tokyo. I would suspect that many people enjoyed Sushi via private or very local sources in the "downtime" but the real industry did not return until regular air shipments were available. Osaka in Compton was one of the first to appear in LA in the late 60s. The next places where I found Sushi in the 70s were Dallas and NYC. I would suspect Chicago as well. Common thread was the air link to Tokyo.

I do remember early attempts on Maui without the air link. Truly terrible. I would expect you might find one or two varieties in a place like Seattle...but the breadth of the cuisine...no. I have for more than 40 years enjoyed the salmon of BC. But that single family of fish is not something you build a cuisine like sushi upon...

[Mikala43]

Originally Posted by OpenD

Mixing wasabi in with soy is considered rude and very bad form in the sushi world, so of course I do not do that. To an old-school sushi chef you look like a real hick if you mix wasabi in with your soy sauce.

The correct way to add wasabi to sushi... if it needs it... sushi chefs in better sushi restaurants add the correct amount to only some pieces, and don't recommend wasabi with all pieces... but if you do, the correct way is to add a small dab on top.

k:

Well then the darn sushi chef shouldn't put wasabi on the plate with the sushi, and shoyu on the table!

I mix them (and won't apologize!), and dip them in. For me it depends on what TYPE of maki role it is though. Both the ingredients can overwhelm the existing flavors quite quickly.

Wait, I'm thinking of the maki rolls I normally eat, california, spicy tuna, deep fried crab.... I change my answer to "no", because for the maki rolls I eat, I don't add anything...