THE FACTS
America has become a sushi-loving nation since sushi’s west coast expansion after World War II when it was considered a delicacy enjoyed mostly by celebrities and other movers and shakers. By the late 1970s sushi restaurants were booming throughout California and spreading throughout the country. Today, sushi has become an American staple for everything from dining out to dinner parties to cocktail happy hours.
Sushi was a street food
Sushi began in the 1830s as a fast food sold at
streetside stands in a place called “Edo,” modern day Tokyo. Because there was
no refrigeration, fish was typically marinated to prevent spoilage. By the late
1890s, ice making machines and other refrigeration systems were used to keep
sushi fresh.
Most sushi is actually maki or nigiri
Sushi comes in many forms, including cone-shaped
rolls known called temaki and a rice bowl topped with fish referred to as
chirashi. Typically, when Americans refer to “sushi,” they are talking about
nigiri, which is raw fish atop a bed of rice, or maki, which is rolled in
seaweed (or nori) and rice and sliced.
Salmon sushi was invented in the 1980s
Salmon isn’t native to Japan. A delegation from
the Norwegian fishing industry visited Japan in the 1980s to propose its use as
a sushi delicacy, and the rest is history. Another little known fact: salmon is
actually a fatty whitefish that gets its pink color from eating
crustaceans.
The California Roll is all-American
“Inside-out rolls,” the ones with sushi on the
inside and seaweed and sticky rice on the outside, are not traditional in
Japan. They are entirely an American creation. Arguably the most popular of
these, the California Roll, was first created in 1963 by Ichiro Mashita at the
Tokyo Kaikan restaurant in Los Angeles. The roll featuring King crab, avocado
and mayonnaise didn’t get its name until the 1980s. Mashita put seaweed on the
outside of the roll after noticing Americans were peeling it off and afraid to
eat it.
The perfect rice is hard to come by
Perfect sushi rice is made with a delicate
balance of water, cooking time, room temperature and humidity, and mixing
technique. The best temperature for sushi rice is body temperature, and a
wooden container is best suited for keeping the right temperature and
moisture balance. While sushi rice needs to be served just above room
temperature to stay sticky enough to travel by chopsticks to the mouth, the
grains should separate on the palate. That means sushi chefs must strike the
perfect balance of tightness when packing the inner and outer layers.
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