Sushi

Sushi is a traditional Japanese dish defined by its seasoned rice. While many people believe the word means raw seafood, it actually refers to the rice itself. This rice is known as shari or sumeshi. It is typically seasoned with vinegar, salt, and sometimes sugar. This combination creates a distinct sour and umami, or savory, taste.

People combine this vinegared rice with various ingredients. These include seafood, vegetables, or meat. Common seafood choices include tuna, salmon, eel, and squid. Some versions even use imitation crab meat, known as surimi.

The preparation of sushi involves specific techniques to combine flavors. For nigiri-zushi, a chef creates a small, hand-pressed mound of rice. A slice of seafood is then draped over the top. In makizushi, or sushi rolls, ingredients are placed on rice. This rice is often wrapped in nori, which is dried seaweed. To shape these rolls, chefs use a bamboo mat called a makisu.

Other styles include chirashizushi, where ingredients are scattered over a bowl of rice. There is also inari-zushi, which consists of fried tofu pouches filled with rice.

These different methods allow for a wide variety of textures and tastes.

Sushi comes in many distinct types and regional styles. Chirashizushi can be prepared in an Edo-style with uncooked ingredients arranged artfully. Alternatively, Kansai-style sushi mixes cooked or uncooked ingredients into the rice. In Kyushu, chefs might use rice wine instead of vinegar to season the rice. They may top it with octopus, bamboo shoots, or shredded omelette.

Another unique type is gunkanmaki, which looks like a small ship. This style uses a strip of seaweed to create a container for soft ingredients.

Each region uses local flavors to maintain its own traditions.

The history of sushi began as a way to preserve food. Early influences came from a dish called narezushi, or "matured fish." In this method, fish was stored in fermented rice for many months. The rice was used to preserve the fish through lactic acid fermentation. Eventually, the rice was discarded, and only the fish was eaten.

This practice likely originated in Southeast Asia near the Mekong or Irrawaddy rivers. It was a vital way to guarantee protein for many months.

As time passed, the fermentation process became much shorter. During the Muromachi period, between 1336 and 1573, people invented namanare. This means "partially fermented" sushi. In this version, the fermentation time was reduced. Crucially, people began eating the rice along with the fish.

This shift changed sushi from a preservation method into a culinary dish. Later, during the Edo period, vinegar was mixed directly into the rice. This eliminated the need for long fermentation entirely.

Modern sushi as we know it was shaped in the Edo period. Around 1824, a chef named Hanaya Yohei is credited with inventing or perfecting nigiri-zushi. This was a popular fast food for the chōnin, or townspeople, of Edo.

The sushi of this era was different from today's versions. The rice mounds were about three times larger than modern ones. Chefs used less vinegar and more salt than they do now. They also used red vinegar made from fermenting sake lees.

In the modern era, sushi has become a global phenomenon. In 1958, Yoshiaki Shiraishi opened the first kaiten-zushi restaurant. This is known as conveyor belt sushi.

In these restaurants, plates move along a belt past the diners. This style made sushi more casual and affordable. By 2021, the conveyor belt sushi market reached 700 billion yen. Today, sushi is celebrated as one of the most popular dishes in the world.