Sushi: Where it all began

SUSHI has become a popular form of fast food in modern times, so much so that an unofficial day was set aside to celebrate the Japanese dish – International Sushi Day.

Today, in honour of that day, the Northglen News has delved into the history of this Asian dish.

It is believed that the original form of sushi was first developed in China, as a means of preserving fish. The fish was salted and wrapped in fermented rice, which prevented the ‘meat’, an important source of protein, from spoiling. Records of this form of preservation have been found in second century Chinese scriptures. The rice would be discarded and only the fish was eaten.

Then in the 8th century when sushi spread to Japan new forms of sushi were created, as the Japanese preferred to eat their fish with semi-fermented rice, known as namanare.

At a later stage haya-zushi or ‘fast sushi’ was born. People began using vinegar to speed up the fermentation. Ultimately the vinager was used to artificially create the ‘tangy’ flavour associated with the fermented rice – by simply soaking the cooked rice in vinegar.

In the early 1800’s the Japanese began eating sashimi or raw fish with the sushi rice.

The delicacy only became popular in the Western world in the 1970s when sushi chefs developed the California roll.

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