How to eat sushi?

[David T Anderson]

Okay, I am developing a taste for sushi and the like, but I have a strong feeling I'm eating like a barbarian when I go out for it. I only recently learned about stirring the wasabi into soy sauce for dipping...there must be a ton of things I ought to know.

I'm a fair hand with chopsticks, and I know the basic rules [no stabbing stuff; don't stick them into a bowl of rice; don't pass food chopsticks to chopsticks...] but I just know there's more.

When we get sushi rolls that come in big slices, do you eat each piece in a single bite, or can you hold the chunk up and bite pieces off?

Can I eat straight off the serving plate [my wife and friends are pretty casual] or must we transfer it to the tiny side plates? How about other foods...those side plates are _really_ small...

How do you eat cold soba noodles dipped in sauce without getting drips all over the table [this came up today]. Or does it matter?

Bits and pieces of solid food falling from the chopsticks onto the table...horrible, not-quite-nice or who cares...?

Should I eat sushi by itself as a meal, or use it as an appetiser...or does it matter [I frequently just order an appetiser when I want a light meal]?

Anything else? I don't drink beer or sake with lunch, and I don't like tea either. Should I develop a taste for tea, or does anybody care if I have a Diet Coke as usual?

Are the serving staff of sushi restaurants traditionally unhelpful, or is it just in my town? Or is it just that they are trying to avoid being revealed as Chinese rather than Japanese?

[Sochin]

David, you are not Japanese, you are Canadian.

Eat it any way you want. I refuse to have my life led by other's death rituals and such.

In Japan, I would conform, but here is where I eat the way I want.

[David T Anderson]

David, you are not Japanese, you are Canadian.
Eat it any way you want. I refuse to have my life led by other's death rituals and such.
In Japan, I would conform, but here is where I eat the way I want.

But Ted -- Eating Japanese food in Japanese style is part of what I enjoy...otherwise I'd use a knife and fork. :smilejapa


Besides, I enjoy being able to slurp my noodles and miso because it's authentic...I'm _far_ too well brought up to do it otherwise... :rolleyes:

[Tripitaka of AA]

Hi David

Well, I think Ted may have a point (with which I disagree), but it hardly joined in the spirit of your post, did it!

My wife and I had a chat about your post and I think we can answer most of the points. Apologies if some of it is already familiar to you. Now, can I remember what she said…?

First of all, it is worth noting that Sushi is not the staple food of Japan, but rather a delicacy and eaten on special occasions, not all the time. The restaurants that serve it (for it isn’t something that you’d make at home) come in a range of sizes, but as in so many things … size isn’t everything! In fact, the smaller establishments will often be the best food and the most expensively priced. The freshness and quality of the fish is crucial, and the care taken by the chef. Even the humble rice has a very special care taken over it (I’ve heard that the apprentice Sushi Chef may spend five years mastering the art of boiling the rice, before he gets anywhere near a knife).

Defining terms. Sushi is the small thumb-sized ball of rice with a smear of wasabi and topped with a sliver of raw fish (usually). Sashimi is portions of raw fish. It is served separately from the rice, wasabi (green paste made from horseradish), shoyu (soya sauce) and shredded daikon (radish), shoga (pink pickled ginger). Sushi is usually served at a specialist restaurant, often laid out like a bar, with a serving counter with high stools, and some extra tables for those more intimate groups. The Sushi chef in the smaller establishments will therefore have to employ the skills of a good barman (chatting to customers, etc.) as well as producing perfectly shaped and subtly flavoured delights at lightning speed. Bigger restaurants may have the Chef removed from the customers to keep up the productivity. Most of the Sushi restaurants in Japan will also offer a take-out or delivery service (little scooters whizzing through traffic with sushi instead of pizzas).

Whereas Sashimi will need good hashi skills, Sushi can be eaten by hand – so I’m told!. It is already packaged up and ready-to-go, so therefore hashi waza are not always required. If you do use hashi, then remember that you need to turn the sushi lover to dip the fish side into shoyu, not the rice side (that would ruin the flavour of the rice… and cause it to disintegrate). You mention wasabi mixed into the shoyu, but this is already present with nigirizushi, perhaps you meant for use with makizushi, where the contents are wrapped with rice and nori, then cut into cylindrical portions (sometimes long and thin, sometimes short and wide).

You mention hashi etiquette. Do you know why you mustn’t leave hashi stabbed vertically into a bowl of rice? Or why you don’t pass from hashi to hashi? I’ll say what I’ve been told;
In a Japanese family house, you’ll often see a Butsudan. This is a small cabinet that is decorated with pictures of deceased family members, and is treated as the spiritual resting place of the immediate ancestors. It will sometimes have small portions of food placed before it, as a symbolic offering. When you put rice there, you put the hashi in, stabbing them down into the rice and leaving them sticking up. To do so during a normal meal would therefore carry some pretty dark connotations.

The passing from hashi to hashi is another thing associated with rituals regarding death. At a Japanese funeral, the cremation is not as complete as at a US/UK service, with nothing left but an urn filled with ash and powderised bone. In Japan, the family gather at the end of the cremation to collect up the bone fragments into a small box (18 inch cubed). They do this by taking it in turns to pick up a fragment, in pairs, with hashi. This is the ONLY time you will see two people picking up one object with hashi together, and you’ll see why that is frowned on during a normal meal. I've been to a Japanese funeral, and it was pretty good fun actually! Lots of eating and talking about the good times.

The drips on the table? In China and Japan, the meal is eaten with the bowl in one hand and the hashi in the other, there is no need to do a great balancing act of getting food from a plate on the table all the way up to the mouth. You will see both Japanese and Chinese pretty much shovelling the food from bowl to mouth, using the hashi as spoons. Even the highest class diner does not look down on picking up the bowl (unless they are attempting to copy Western etiquette, as in an Italian/French restaurant, etc.). I’m told that in Korea, bizarrely, they DON’T pick up the bowl. So I guess that means that the best hashi waza must be found in Korea.

Disclaimer:
My wife is Japanese. She went to a posh school and she ate in a lot of restaurants. On the other hand, she has been out of Japan for nearly twenty years and has no formal qualification in cultural/social/etiquette history…. And I’m not perfect at transcribing our conversations. So I’d be really pleased if anyone else can come on to this thread and add to my answers, or correct them. I had drafted an early answer before Ted, but I lost it due to a timeout and it has taken a while to get this down.

While I agree that you can do whatever you want AT HOME, I’ve always thought it prudent to learn about the social customs of a society, just to avoid insulting anyone unintentionally. It is also a bit of fun. And if I went into Ted’s house and blew my nose on his tablecloth before dinner, then I think he’d agree that maybe I should have checked if this was acceptable behaviour …. It’s what I do at home!

[Dave Lowry]

Dear Mr. Anderson,
I detest self-promotion. However, I’ve written a book, a rather lengthy one, The Connoisseur’s Guide to Sushi, that will be published this October by Harvard Common Press, which answers all the questions you have asked, often in considerable, even tedious, detail.
If, by “only recently learning about stirring the wasabi into the soy sauce for dipping,” you mean you have recently learned to do it, you really ought to make every effort to unlearn it. It is an egregious habit, utterly in contrast to the real enjoyment of sushi.
Sushi is, despite common misconceptions, about the rice. The mixture of rice, rice vinegar, and sugar, was the impetus for the evolution of sushi and it is still the standard by which it is best evaluated. The fish or other ingredients are the icing on the cake. The manipulation of these basic materials, rice, vinegar, and sugar, form most of the real art of sushi. The relative measures, for instance, change between summer and winter, age of the rice, type of sushi, etc. Too involved to go into it here; I spend several pages on this in the book. Suffice to say that whipping up a slurry of wasabi and shoyu and baptizing your sushi in this will effectively kill any chance to taste or appreciate the delicately and deliberately flavoured rice. A tiny bit of wasabi is used on some kinds of sushi, but this is usually to accentuate the taste of the fish in one way or another.
So how did this get started? Because mixing shoyu and wasabi and dunking slices of sashimi in it is a standard practise. Sashimi, as you probably know, is always served with plain rice, not sushi rice or sushi-meshi, as it’s called. Big difference. It is a common practise among sushi tsu (connoisseurs) to order a plate of sashimi at a sushi-ya as a first course, to get an idea of the place’s quality. With that course, wasabi-joyu is typically used. I think people saw this and assumed it applied as well to sushi.
Yes, I know. There will be members writing who live in Japan and who will insist they see Japanese using wasabi-joyu with sushi every day. And of course, they are correct. Unfortunately, it’s become common in Japan as well. There will also be those who opine that not being Japanese I am not in a position to comment on the “correctness” of sushi dining etiquette and those who, conversely, will note that I am trying to “be Japanese.” They are certainly entitled to their opinions. But I have spoken with a hell of a lot of sushi itamae and sushi connoisseurs in Japan in doing research for the book and the overwhelming consensus is as I have told you and for the reasons I have explained.

Cordially,

[Blackwood]

Dave,

I look forward to the book and will keep my eye out for it.

I have always done my best to educate people on the differences between sushi and sashimi. To the vast majority of Americans, sushi means raw fish. I've been able to share meals with a lot of people, and even have my mother eating it on a regular basis!

I've been sharing sushi with my daughters since they were 2. They loved being able to 1) eat with their fingers, 2) dip into the soy sauce, 3) spend some quality time with Dad. And my wife really couldn't complain about any health risks when they were eating rice and cooked egg or the processed crab. They are branching out a bit more now, trying the various types of sashimi used with the rice.

Here's a related question:

Do the Japanese actual serve spoons with their miso soup? The strange spoons usually provided at restaurants are a bit bizarre in my mind. It is my understanding that in Japan the miso is drunk right out of the bowl, with the chopsticks being used to coax out any of the more stubborn bits. Is that the correct method?

[Dave Lowry]

Dear Mr. Blackwood,
No, no, no. Japanese restaurants outside Japan sometimes offer a Western style bouillon spoon or a Chinese shaor, the horn-shaped spoon to which I think you refer. Neither is appropriate. Miso-shiru is drunk from the bowl. This is reflected in the language. In Japanese, you do not eat (tabemasu) soup, but drink (nomimasu) it.
Look at a Western style soup bowl; it is large and with relatively broad sides to allow for the rapid cooling of the contents. A bowl for miso-shiru is steep sided and small, to retain the heat. This relfects different ideas about the role of soup in a meal. A Japanese soup bowl is inefficiently designed to accept a spoon. A Western style soup bowl is designed specifically for that purpose.

Cordially,

[Tripitaka of AA]

I'm really pleased that this has caught your eye Mr Lowry... I'm looking forwrd to the book :)

I trust that there will be plenty of pictures, to help us with our Sushi-recognition. Oh, to be able to go in and order something without having to point at a plastic replica! Or just getting what the guy across the room just had.

[CezarJ]

I am also interested in your book. Could you post the ISBN ? If promotion on these boards is not allowed please send me a private message with it.

Thank you,

[Ien]

I too would love to take a look at Mr Lowry's book when it gets out. I've been suffering sushi withdrawel since leaving Japan, and although I have had it a few times since it just never feels right. Plus the prices here in Germany are a killer, I really miss my local 100en sushi bar!

But just one point I'd like to make, Sushi is occasionally made in the japanese home. Here it usually takes the form of Temaki sushi, that is hand rolled, with a big sheet of nori and everyone adds ther own rice and whatever else they want, then roll it up into a cone shape. I even had this for school lunch once, had to have been the longest lunch I've ever had, watching a bunch of 6 year olds trying too make these, lol!

Any other variations people know of?

Eynon Phillips

[Tripitaka of AA]

I thought Temakizushi was actually one of those foreign inventions that found its way back to the homeland. Like the "California Roll", it came from Americans. The British favourite curry dish of Chicken Tikka Masala is now becoming popular in India despite its origins as a mongrel-mix of two perfectly good (and quite separate) dishes; Tikka being hot and red, Masala being creamy and mild.

The Americans also invented "Chop Suey" for Chinese food, didn't they?

[EldritchKnight]

Can't forget the chirashi-zushi. You know its festival time when that comes about. Down on Shikoku (where I lived) we had these big chyosa festivals in mid-October which were filled with lights and sounds of all types. They'd serve colorful chirashi-zushi to complement it.

[Tripitaka of AA]

So David (Anderson), did that answer your questions?...

[David T Anderson]

So David (Anderson), did that answer your questions?...


In fact, gentlemen, all that discussion helped me quite a bit.

Mr. Lowry, I'm also looking forward to your book, even though I'm a touch dismayed that the soya/wasabi mixing is a no-no. At least I can take comfort in the fact that I'm _authentically_ uncultured... As it is, I must admit that the subtleties of rice varieties and their flavouring are somewhat lost on me, but perhaps someday I will come to appreciate them. In future I'll save the wasabi trick for sashimi only.

Here in Calgary we don't have many places [that I'm familiar with at least] that specialize in sushi. In most cases it is served as an appetiser before various other main dishes. My favorite Japanese restaurant here is Soba Ten, which makes their own soba noodles and serve them fresh...they are vastly better than the standard dried noodles boiled up. Note that one of my favorite dishes is curried soba...a big bowl of soba in curry broth with bits of chicken...and it's eaten with a Chinese-style flat spoon.


There are at least a half-dozen places calling themselves 'sushi houses' that I haven't tried...I look forward to the exploration.

[Tri-ring]

Konichiwa everyone,

As I wrote before, sushi was the Mcdonald's of the Edo period, it was a fast snack before going to a brothel or going home. This fad of sushi being a gourmet's dish is actually a recent phenomenon.
There are no real etiquette in eating sushi, it is commonly said that if you start with the white meat fish you will better enjoy the delicate taste and advance up with the more intense taste like sea urchin, and leave the most fatty toro for last.
Green tea is not just a drink but it is said to refresh the tounge so you can enjoy the various nuance in flavor. Since Coke has a strong lasting taste of it's own you may not be able to wash down the prior taste.
It is also said that to evaluate the craftmanship of the sushi chef try the egg roll(Gyoku) without the rice.

David-san,
Although nobody will frown of disapproval in mixing wasabi and soy-sauce, if you are using real wasabi, I suggest placing a portion of wasabi on top of the sashimi. This way you will be able to enjoy the fresh scent of wasabi.
If you really want to enjoy the pungent taste of wasabi, ask for a wasabi roll.
Just be sure they use fresh ground wasabi before ordering!
Does this help?

K.Miwa

[David T Anderson]

This fad of sushi being a gourmet's dish is actually a recent phenomenon. There are no real etiquette in eating sushi,

This is good to know...I will quote you, sir!



David-san,
Although nobody will frown of disapproval in mixing wasabi and soy-sauce, if you are using real wasabi, I suggest placing a portion of wasabi on top of the sashimi. This way you will be able to enjoy the fresh scent of wasabi.
If you really want to enjoy the pungent taste of wasabi, ask for a wasabi roll.
Just be sure they use fresh ground wasabi before ordering!
Does this help?

_Real_ wasabi? Do you mean to say there is ersatz wasabi out there, or do you simply mean stuff that's supplied in jars?

Ordering wasabi roll after making sure the wasabi is fresh sounds like just the thing to impress my dinner companions. That helps a lot! Thanks for your comments...

[Tri-ring]

Konbanwa David-san,

Well wasabi is a type of horse radish so wasabi in tubes are really 80% horse radish, 18% real wasabi and about 2% green dye. There are also powder wasabi. You just wisk some water into the powder and wala there you have it.
You can tell if it is real wasabi or not with the scent of the wasabi. Powder wasabi is too straight foward in scent, and horse radish is weak in it's freshness in scent, but you don't have to be a wasabi guru to tell if it is fresh or not.
A sushi chef is proud in using fresh wasabi so s/he will usually grate the wasabi in front of you. Now if you see the chef running his/her knife through the grated wasabi you really know that s/he know what they are doing.
I hope this helps.

K.Miwa

[P Goldsbury]

Mr Anderson,

For something in English, I suggest you look at Richard Hosking's "A Dictionary of Japanese Food", published by Charles Tuttle. There is an entry 'wasabi' and also an Appendix (Appendix 16).

Best regards,

[Jock Armstrong]

I thought the only rules were "lots" followed by "lots of beer". Then again, I am a pleb................

[tsurashi shondo]

David,
If you find yourself up here in Edmonton, I would heartily encourage you to
try this establishment.
www.mikadorestaurant.com
They are Japanese trained chefs and most of the staff are Japanese as well.
Friendly, helpful and dee-lish.
I will add this caveat however, while traditional choices are always available, they have many "neo" or "fusion" items these days and the overall dining experience is definately western.
Hope that was of some use to you.

[Tri-ring]

Konbanwa everyone,

For those who do not understand what I mean by tube and/or powder wasabi, please click here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasabi)

Regards,

K.Miwa

[David T Anderson]

David,
If you find yourself up here in Edmonton, I would heartily encourage you to
try this establishment.
www.mikadorestaurant.com


Sean -- Thanks very much for the tip. I don't get to Edmonton that often, but the next time I do, I will certainly give Mikado a try.

Tri-ring-san -- thanks for the Wikipedia reference..very enlightening...

[Dave Lowry]

All,
Wasabi—real wasabi—is still very rare outside Japan. As has been pointed out here, the powder and stuff in tubes is always a concoction consisting primarily of horseradish. (If you want to distinguish it from the real stuff, you say “daikon wasabi” or "seiyo wasabi.") Real wasabi is an evergreen member of the mustard family. To flourish, it has to have plenty of shade, sandy or volcanic soil, and a steady supply of slow moving fresh water. It’s being successfully cultivated in Oregon and New Zealand now, but it’s still frightfully expensive.
Wasabi is properly grated with a sharkskin korozame grater (it has to be angel shark skin, by the way), from the stem end down.
If someone’s trying to lord it over you because they’ve had the “real” stuff in Japan while you’re just using the fake kind, they can be nicely put in their place by being asked, “Was it sawa (swamp) wasabi you ate, or yuri wasabi?” They’ll be stumped. You can explain that most wasabi in Japan comes from the cultivated plants, the sawa kind. You, as a real sushi snob, however, would only call it “real” if it’s the kind that grows wild up in the mountains, the kind called yuri wasabi. And you can explain that if you can’t have the “real” thing that you’d just as soon settle for the fake stuff.

Cordially,

[Mrose]

Mr. Lowry,
When grating the wasabi, is the outside "skin" left on or should it be peeled off?

[Dave Lowry]

Dear Mr. Mrose,
Yes, the outer layer of the wasabi root has to be peeled off. It's thick and warty. You can, incidentally, judge the quality of the root by those bumpy warts. The closer they are together, the more flavour the root will have. Usually, you can cut this layer away with a paring knife or you can use a sharp potato peeler or the peeler that's sold in Japan for taking off the skin of gobo.
Remember to grate from the top of the root down; the flavour is more intensely concentrated at the top. And grate slowly, which gives the root time to give up all its taste.

Cordially,

[Moniteur]

For those who are interested, here is one place that sells fresh wasabi root.. 500gr for about $64.00US, grown in Canada - though shipping to the US will bite you for an additional $40.00US.

http://www.wasabia.ca/

Anyone here ever dealt with them? Sounds interesting...

[Brian Owens]

...Anyone here ever dealt with them? Sounds interesting...
Funny you should ask.

In July I'm going to ride my scooter from Vancouver, BC to Tijuana, Mexico. I'm planning on visiting the Steveson Martial Arts Centre and some other Japanese related sites while I'm up there, and PCW is one of the places on my list.

They have a very informative page about wasabi in addition to the one liked above:

Wasabia japonica, The Background Story (http://www.wasabia.ca/summary.htm)

For those who don't have or can't get an oroshi (sharkskin grater), they sell a very nice ceramic grater, finer toothed than most other graters and specially designed for wasabi grating. Here's a picture, and also a picture of grating wasabi with a traditional oroshi:

[Ben Bartlett]

Man, this is a good thread. It turns out I've been eating sushi all wrong! And I must admit, I always thought the main point of the sushi was the fish. I'll have to buy Dave Lowry's book when it comes out---I love books like that: interesting, practical, and an excellent excuse to eat more sushi. ;)

[Tri-ring]

Konichiwa everyone,

Although I am far from being a sushi snob, I like to share how I would order when I go to a sushi bar.(not the rotating type)
First I would ask for a sashimi assortment that is in season. A madai (red sea bream), or a kawahagi (thread-sail filefish) in spring or hirame (bastard halibut) in the winter season. I will ask for some rock salt and have the first strip with salt and then take the second strip with soy-sauce with some wasabi on top.
Finishing off the sashimi, next for the sushi. Probably start with hikari-mono (Any type of blue scaled sea fish like Spotted sardine, Club mackerel, Japanese jack mackerel and/or bonito). after this a kappa maki( cucumber roll) and a shell fish in season like akagai(ark shell), hotate(scallop) or mizugai(abalone). The kappa-maki is to refresh the mouth and in between appitizer while the chef is making the next dish.
Then comes the anago(sea eel), and/or maybe a kazunoko(herring roe). I probably ask for a gyoku(Egg roll without rice) around here.
If all looks good I'll go for kanpyo maki(cooked gourd shavings) with wasabi.
And last but not least chu-toro or Oo-toro(you know what I mean) and owan(Miso soup).
I will porbably enjoy my meal with jyunmaishu (pure rice sake) iced like white wine.
Ouch ! !
That's 5~7000 yen ! !

K.Miwa

PS Pss, Brian-san you're grating the wasabi from the wrong side. :look:

[Brian Owens]

...Brian-san you're grating the wasabi from the wrong side.
I am not grating it at all. :p

(I posted that picture, from a wasabi grower's Web site, to show the oroshi.)

[Chrono]

David, that was a great post you did. I learned a lot from it.

Me and a friend from school went to eat sushi at a local restaurant and it was my first time. I had no idea the etiquette on it. The chef helped a little bit, though.

[Gary Dolce]

Penzeys spices (www.penzeys.com) sells something they call "pure wasabi" ($11.95 for a 0.7 oz jar), which they distinguish from "natural wasabi" - a blend of "pure wasabi" and horseradish. I haven't tried it yet, and at that price I probably won't. While their terminology in this case leaves something to be desired, in general this is a good place to order high quality spices.

Any thoughts on some of the non-traditional special rolls (California, Alaska, Dragon, Rainbow, etc.) that sushi bars in the US make these days? Some are quite tasty, though I draw the line at ones containing cream cheese, blue cheese, or mayo. While I really like some of the spicy ones, I imagine that these defeat the purpose of savoring the flavor of the rice, vinegar, and sugar. To the purists, what are the limits for maki sushi ingredients?

[John Seavitt]

Penzeys ... sells something they call "pure wasabi" ... which they distinguish from ... a blend of "pure wasabi" and horseradish.

I've got some of that at home. Penzey's is great (and I gather they have a store coming to Boston soon). As they point out in their product literature, it's a much milder flavor without the horseradish (duh, I know). It is my impression that most commercially available wasabi is 'cut' with horseradish
and mustard (perhaps not unlike other expensive products such as balsamic vinegar and crack cocaine).

It is pricy, but I'd say that it's worth trying. Only going to need a tiny bit at a time, anyway, as recently discussed. I like it for cooking if there's no fresh around.


Any thoughts on some of the non-traditional ... blue cheese ...

Alright, I'm perfectly happy to combine flavors in imaginative ways, but - blue cheese and fish? C'mon already!

John

[Chrono]

Any thoughts on some of the non-traditional special rolls (California, Alaska, Dragon, Rainbow, etc.) that sushi bars in the US make these days?

I tried the California rolls when I went. It was pretty good. The girl I was with told me that it's a good start for someone just trying sushi.

[Brian Owens]

...Any thoughts on some of the non-traditional special rolls (California, Alaska, Dragon, Rainbow, etc.) that sushi bars in the US make these days? Some are quite tasty, though I draw the line at ones containing cream cheese, blue cheese, or mayo....
Well, I like some of the ones with cream cheese or mayo; it's a change of pace. I just chew plenty of shoga before the next one.

I like Salmon, Apple, and Cream Cheese (all products of my state, as is nori).

[Gary Dolce]

Penzey's is great (and I gather they have a store coming to Boston soon).

I wish they had a store coming to the Detroit area. I'd probably hang out there just for the smells. Have you tried their Vietnamese cinnamon? A little too sharp for most baking but the aroma is incredible. Their Maharajah Curry mix (the one with saffron in it) is also amazing.



It is pricy, but I'd say that it's worth trying. Only going to need a tiny bit at a time, anyway, as recently discussed. I like it for cooking if there's no fresh around.

OK, you've got me convinced. After what I sepent for a bottle of vanilla a few months ago, $11.95 isn't so bad.

[Dave Lowry]

I am asked above by Mr. Dolce about the relevance of various sorts of wrapped sushi named imaginatively after cities, geographical regions, etc., and filled with items ranging from the odd to the bizarre.
Mr. Dolce, have you ever watched the "Today" programme in the morning and seen the shrieking, mooing, hooting, near stampeding hordes clamouring for the attention of Katie or Matt or whatever pop star is performing that day? People, mostly from out of town and coming to one of the most interesting cities on the planet and who have nothing better or more productive to do than to traipse down to Rockefeller Plaza in the early morning to form a confederacy of similarly-inclined quid nuncs?
The sushi-like products you mention are to real sushi what those crowds are to decent and intelligent and creative people.

Cordially,

[Gary Dolce]

Thanks Mr. Lowry - your answer was pretty much as I expected. Fortunately, I don't watch TV, but I can appreciate the image you describe.

When it comes to food, I like anything that tastes good. While I appreciate traditional sushi (which I have had at many places in both the US and Japan), I also like some of the odd variations, just as I like some, but not all, of the odd combinations that one finds in restaurants that make "pan-Asian" cuisine. There is a place for traditionalism in food and a place for innovation - I personally have no problem with either as long as neither one claims to be something it isn't.

I will look forward to reading your book. I am still curious where you draw the line in terms of ingredients and combinations in maki sushi. Besides things like cheese, mayo, and hot sauce (I'm guessing these would be on your list), what else is do you put outside the bounds of reasonable sushi? Or in other terms, are the only reasonable ingredients, besides the sushi rice, the seafood, egg, and some vegetables native to and traditionally used in Japan?

[Dave Lowry]

Dear Mr. Dolce,
Your question is a good one, but difficult to answer—and probably impossible to answer conclusively. Contrary to what many might think, sushi is actually among the most modern of innovations in Japanese cuisine, even though its roots, using rice as a medium for preserving fish, goes way, way back. The most popular sushi we eat today, nuggets of rice topped with various ingredients, dates only back to the late Edo period. Hanaya Yohei opened the first sushi stall in Ryogoku in 1824, serving “Edomae” sushi. The word’s a reference to Edo Bay, from where the fish for the sushi came. Since that time, some toppings (they’re called neta or tane) have come in and gone out of fashion. Just before the second world war, for instance, kajiki or marlin became a huge fad as a tane. Now it’s only rarely eaten in sushi-ya. Very, very few people in Edo times ate iwashi (sardine) at sushi-ya. Now it’s fairly popular. And ikura, the salmon eggs that are now eaten all the time in sushi were not even heard of in Japan until the 1930s. They were introduced to Japan as a result of some Japanese spies who were in Russia and up to no good, men affiliated with the nefarious Black Dragon Society. While spying on the Russian military (by, among other ways, setting up judo dojo where they taught the art to Russians), they ate caviar for the first time. No sturgeon in Japan, but there were salmon and the egg sacs of salmon, sujiko, had long been eaten and so the Japanese spies, on their return to Japan, got sushi makers to incorporate just the eggs into sushi.
So sushi isn’t some monolithic “traditional” cuisine that hasn’t changed since the Yayoi Period. It’s always been in flux and remains so today. Sometimes that’s good. Sometimes it’s bad. I suppose the best advice I could give would be in judging innovations would be to use these criteria: Does the change enhance the taste and “mouth feel” of the rice which is at the heart of sushi? Or does it obscure that? Is the change consonant with what has been prepared and eaten in the sushi-ya? Or is it simply a change for the sake of being outrageous or “creative?”
In Japanese aesthetics, there are a couple of terms that come to mind. Konomi and konomi-metate. Konomi is a creative impulse that vivifies something in a new way. A good example is the hoe of Sen no Rikyu. Rikyu, who galvinized the tea ceremony in Japan, was a genius at finding beauty in everyday objects. Once, in the tokonoma, the alcove of the tea room where flowers or a scroll are normally placed, he put an old hoe, still muddy from the field. Placed there and observed as an art object, the old hoe, the worn handle and pitted, well-used blade, it was seen as beautiful. He caused the viewer to look at this everyday object in a different way. Same with the tea bowls he used, which were based on the rough, simple bowls used for rice by Korean farmers. That’s konomi.
Konomi-metate is when one goes over that line and tries to be creative but succeeds only in being atrocious or pointlessly avant-garde. Most “art” today is konomi-metate. Immersing a crucifix in a jar of urine does nothing to get us to see the crucifix in a different or unique way. It simply seeks to shock. Epatage la bourgeois. Wearing a formal kimono in which to do a karate kata, as Nakayama did back in the Sixties was an act of konomi. It caused us to see the beauty of kata in a dramatically different way but one that was consonant with kitsuke (proper wearing of kimono) and with the kata of the art. Wearing a day-glo hakama and tank-top and squawking like a frightened macaw while doing some made up crapola "kata” is konomi metate.
So, to make a long answer slightly longer, my advice in judging innovations in sushi would be to learn so much about sushi that you are capable of recognising and appreciating the difference between konomi and konomi-metate in it. And in so much else in life.

Cordially,

[Moniteur]

Hi Dave,

great reply.

As an example... there is a hibachi steak place and sushi bar here in Wichita, which is owned by a Japanese gentleman. There are a few others here that are own by Taiwanese. All of them offer basically the same sorts of things. The rice and fish at the Japanese owned place are a cut above the rest however, and priced accordingly. It is the only place in town where you can get Katsuo (What exactly is katsuo/bonito anyway? a tuna? or a form of skipjack mackeral?) when it's in season.. the usual nigiri are there, as are temaki and hoso/futo maki.. of the more odd stuff, there is the usual spider roll and so on.

Being that KS is a beef state, he has a roll on the menu called the KS roll, which contains a little bit of prime filet, barely seared (or left entirely raw if you ask politely and promise not to sue or tell the health department), fresh grated horseradish, and a little bit of what I think is beefsteak plant.. its really quite good, a nice subtle flavour over all. however - it does no favours for the rice. it's not bad, but it does rather drown out the flavour of the rice (this is more of a problem if they sear the beef, than if it's left raw). Personally, I'd say its slightly over the line into 'not sushi' I've had it a couple times, and would probably order it again, but it's really not sushi. one of these days I'm going to try to convince him to do a sashimi type plate of the raw filet - though I suspect I'll have to ply him with a drink or two first.

Chris

[kimiwane]

I detest self-promotion. However, I’ve written a book, a rather lengthy one, The Connoisseur’s Guide to Sushi, that will be published this October by Harvard Common Press, which answers all the questions you have asked, often in considerable, even tedious, detail.

Will look forward to reading your new book.

Thanks for the interesting facts. Didn't realize you were such a food expert. I've read your articles for years. Good to see you have balanced the martial arts knowledge with cultural and other knowledge.

I went to a local market to buy some sahimi for my lunch one day. I wanted a bunch of maguro with shredded daikon and wasabi to eat at my desk, propriety being no consideration. I just wanted a bunch of raw maguro.

So I picked out a little styrofoam tray that looked like it had about a pound of sushi on it and asked the guy to get it for me. He did and when I saw how "little" wasabi was on the tray, I asked him to put some more on it.

He said "More?" and I said, "Yes, please."

So he handed it off to someone else and said, "More wasabi!"

The other guy said "More?"

And the first guy said, "Hai! Gaijin!"

And when he saw my slightly hurt look, he added "San!"

[Trevor Johnson]

Sounds like gaijin should stash their own wasabi somewhere so as not to be found out. :D

[Dave Lowry]

Dear Mr. Kimiwane,
Sashimi is different from sushi, of course. The principal difference is that sashimi is eaten with regular rice and not with prepared sushi-meshi. Wasabi with sashimi is proper and enhances the taste.
I know this flies in the face of everything you might have been told about sushi, but wasabi is a very small part of enjoying that food. It is added by the maker, between the rice (shari) and the topping (tane) in some instances and in limited amounts. Remember this: You know how that beautiful woman on TV reminds us that Overstock.com is "all about the codes?" Or is it "clothes?" Or is it "gold?" I can't understand her. Anyway, imagine her explaining to you that in sushi, "it's all about the meshi." Sushi is all about the exquisite blending of rice, sugar, and rice vinegar. That mixture changes, depending on the season and on the particular form of sushi. But it's about enjoying the flavour and texture of the sushi-meshi, the sushi rice. The toppings and other ingredients are there to make things more interesting but they should never overwhelm the rice.
That's why wasabi-joyu, the slurry of pond-scum green soy sauce that's whipped up by the would-be sushi enthusiast the way the witches were brewing a potion in "Macbeth" is such an egregiously bad idea. It began, no doubt, when eating sashimi. With sashimi, it enhances the flavour of the fish since it's the fish that's the star of that particular culinary party. Somehow, wasabi-joyu got carried over into sushi. Now, like kudzu or Paris Hilton, it's ubiquitous and we'll never be shed of it.
People confuse sashimi and sushi, even when they know the difference. But they are two different foods and are eaten differently. With a lunch of maguro sashimi, wasabi and shoyu mixed together is good, especially if you're eating it, as you should, with a bowl of plain rice. But too many sushi enthusiasts, even in Japan, are drowning good sushi in wasabi-joyu, negating the time and energy the maker has put in preparing the delicate rice.
By the way, if you like maguro sashimi, you should know that shoyu really, really enhances this fish. Remember that the fattier the cut, the less shoyu you'll want to use.
You also ought to try tekone-zushi, which is usually made with bonito but which is excellent with maguro as well. Cut up maguro into dice-sized chunks, then marinade it for about fifteen minutes in a little fresh ginger juice, then mix it into sushi-meshi. Add a sprinkle of sesame seeds, or chopped shiso and serve it with squares of toasted nori on the side. Tekone-zushi is a classic meal made by fishermen right out on the boat.

[Chrono]

So I picked out a little styrofoam tray that looked like it had about a pound of sushi on it and asked the guy to get it for me. He did and when I saw how "little" wasabi was on the tray, I asked him to put some more on it.

He said "More?" and I said, "Yes, please."

So he handed it off to someone else and said, "More wasabi!"

The other guy said "More?"

And the first guy said, "Hai! Gaijin!"

And when he saw my slightly hurt look, he added "San!"

Ok, I have to admit, that was pretty funny. :p

[Brian Owens]

Dave, I have a sushi question if I may.

On Saturday I had a type of fish I'm not familiar with. The chef called it "Super White Tuna" but said he didn't know the Japanese name.

Pure white, with a very buttery mouth feel and very mild taste.

Any idea what this was?

TIA.

[dingodog1]

Okay, I am developing a taste for sushi and the like, but I have a strong feeling I'm eating like a barbarian when I go out for it. I only recently learned about stirring the wasabi into soy sauce for dipping...there must be a ton of things I ought to know.

I'm a fair hand with chopsticks, and I know the basic rules [no stabbing stuff; don't stick them into a bowl of rice; don't pass food chopsticks to chopsticks...] but I just know there's more.

When we get sushi rolls that come in big slices, do you eat each piece in a single bite, or can you hold the chunk up and bite pieces off?

Can I eat straight off the serving plate [my wife and friends are pretty casual] or must we transfer it to the tiny side plates? How about other foods...those side plates are _really_ small...

How do you eat cold soba noodles dipped in sauce without getting drips all over the table [this came up today]. Or does it matter?

Bits and pieces of solid food falling from the chopsticks onto the table...horrible, not-quite-nice or who cares...?

Should I eat sushi by itself as a meal, or use it as an appetiser...or does it matter [I frequently just order an appetiser when I want a light meal]?

Anything else? I don't drink beer or sake with lunch, and I don't like tea either. Should I develop a taste for tea, or does anybody care if I have a Diet Coke as usual?

Are the serving staff of sushi restaurants traditionally unhelpful, or is it just in my town? Or is it just that they are trying to avoid being revealed as Chinese rather than Japanese?There were a spate of shows on the FOOD network describing sushi, the preparation process and technique for eating it only yesterday. Very interesting.

[Ellis Amdur]

"Super white tuna" was probably albacore.

I recently had a new, for me, sushi, which Dave may think is sacrilege, but I found wonderful. Rice was in kind of a square or round, wrapped with very fatty, raw salmon, and surmounted with ikura (salmon eggs). The buttery taste of the salmon and smooth texture contrasted with the slightly sour explosion of the salmon eggs with the crunch into juicy liquid at the first bite.

Died and gone to sushi heaven.

Dave, have you ever eaten hoya? (I think it's sea squirt). It is the only thing I've ever eaten that didn't taste bad, it was like another category of food, like something eaten by aliens. It tasted terribly wrong.

[Brian Owens]

"Super white tuna" was probably albacore.
I'll have to check into that.

I've had albacore before, and this was different -- almost an oily feel, and no visible grain. But this may have been to regular albacore as toro is to maguro.

Next time I'm there (Sushi Ring, in Everett) I'll ask.

Thanks.

[Dave Lowry]

Mr. Owens,
I'm betting Mr. Amdur is correct. There are about a dozen species of tuna eaten as sushi; the only one remotely white would be shiro-maguro, also known as binnaga, doing business in this country as albacore. (Sometimes escolar is sold in fish markets as "white tuna" but that's a complete misnomer.)
Albacore for sushi is a creamy white--about the same colour as the backside of the average Seattle-ite in January--but it loses its luster if it's been frozen. That's why it's often served in sushi-ya tataki style, with the surface quick-grilled.
Albacore's prime season is right about now, from early June until October. It was a big fad in sushi here for a while, due to its scarcity (which was really more to lack of demand on the market than to its actual population in the wild).
You should not expect to pay as much for it as you would for most cuts of tuna.
Ellis,
Yes, I've had hoya. Sea squirt. Chinese eat more of it than the Japanese; you find it more often up around Akita. Not one of my favourites. However, the guts, fermented shiokara style and sprinkled with a little zest of yuzu, are really tasty. The better-known version is konowata, made with namako (sea slug) intestines.

Cordially,

[Tri-ring]

Konichiwa

Another possibility is Tsukinbo or Kajiki.
English name Swordfish tuna.
Just a quick guesswithout seeing the real thing.
Hope this helps.

K.Miwa

[Brian Owens]

...the only one remotely white would be shiro-maguro, also known as binnaga, doing business in this country as albacore.

...Albacore for sushi is a creamy white--about the same colour as the backside of the average Seattle-ite in January--but it loses its luster if it's been frozen. That's why it's often served in sushi-ya tataki style, with the surface quick-grilled.

...You should not expect to pay as much for it as you would for most cuts of tuna.
Yep; he said it's shiro-maguro.

Now I'm not sure about the albacore I've had in the past, because what I've been eating before wasn't this white; it was a light pink/tan, and, yes, it was always served lightly grilled. Maybe that wasn't albacore and I'm just confused, though. It happens.

I didn't look to see how the price compared to other items, because I always get the all-you-can-eat. I never pick and choose, I just tell the chef to make me what he wants to make. (He seems to like that; sometimes if no one else is around he'll slip me a few items that are normally excluded from the AYCE list.)

[Troll Basher]

1) "Super white tuna" was probably albacore.
2) I recently had a new, for me, sushi, which Dave may think is sacrilege, but I found wonderful. Rice was in kind of a square or round, wrapped with very fatty, raw salmon, and surmounted with ikura (salmon eggs). The buttery taste of the salmon and smooth texture contrasted with the slightly sour explosion of the salmon eggs with the crunch into juicy liquid at the first bite.
3) Dave, have you ever eaten hoya? (I think it's sea squirt). It is the only thing I've ever eaten that didn't taste bad, it was like another category of food, like something eaten by aliens. It tasted terribly wrong.

1) It might be “Otoro”…tuna belly, really expensive.
2) Speaking of new sushi…..I had “Buta Kalbi” the other day. It’s Korean style roasted pork….it was awesome…..weird but awesome.
3) Hoya is a pretty strange looking thing that attaches itself to rocks and what not….it looks like those birth pods from the movie “Alien”. It smells funky and taste just as bad.

I posted this photo in a different thread but it’s kind of cool.
You touch the screen and order the type and amount of sushi you want and it is delivered on a conveyer belt.
It also has a slot machine game on it that plays for every 5 plates of sushi you order. You can win different things from sushi to keychains. Japanese is a strange country sometimes.

[Mekugi]

What we call sushi (nigiri-sushi) is a relatively modern cuisine. That is to say it popped as a vendor treat in the 1900's and it is not as traditional as one might think. So going on and on about how one eats sushi falls on deaf ears when it comes to me.

Food is about taste and if you care to eat your sushi with extra wasabi, or take your fish off and eat it apart from your rice- you are entitled to it IMHO. With all the "traditional" people blather on about, one will find that Japanese sushi chefs are taking a hint from the United States and are starting to experiment. Proof? Come out with me in Nagoya and Tokyo and I will show you some of the most revered sushi-ya putting U.S. styles on their menu- simply because it is "in good taste".

[Mekugi]

It's been fresh in Oregon for the past 15 years.
Japanese industrial spies were caught trying to steal the hydroponics secrets when the news finally got out and they were escorted off by shotgun (which made the news in the Japan Times).

http://www.freshwasabi.com/

New Zealand has been trying to steal Oregon's glory, but those who were around when it was happening know what is what.

http://www.wasabi.co.nz/

Both ship regularly to Japan.

-R


All,
Wasabi—real wasabi—is still very rare outside Japan.

[Saburo]

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6905089586228877019&q=sushi

[kenkyusha]

That was hiliarious, thanks!

Be well,
Jigme

[taken67]

hahaha! that was amazing. do the other videos at the end really exist?

[JohntheOne]

I thought Temakizushi was actually one of those foreign inventions that found its way back to the homeland. Like the "California Roll", it came from Americans. The British favourite curry dish of Chicken Tikka Masala is now becoming popular in India despite its origins as a mongrel-mix of two perfectly good (and quite separate) dishes; Tikka being hot and red, Masala being creamy and mild.

The Americans also invented "Chop Suey" for Chinese food, didn't they?
Well, yes and no. "Chop Suey" as the story goes, was invented in Chinatown, San Francisco one night when a rough and rawdy group of caucasions entered a Chinese restaurant near closing. The owner/chef didn't have anything but leftovers and didn't want to "expell" the late night patrons for obvious reasons. So he just mixed what he had; some version say he
used alot of salt and sugar to cover the taste which just happens to suit the
typical Western taste. And there lies the origin of the name "Chop Suey" where the "chop" comes from that pigin Chinese Westerners use as in "chop-chop" meaning "hurry-up".

[P Goldsbury]

Hello Mr Schau,

Welcoome to E-Budo.

Will you please sign all your posts with your full name. This is best done by adding your name to your signature, which appears at the bottom of all your posts.

You undertook to do this when you became a member of the furum.

Best regards,