Extending far beyond Japan, sushi is consumed by many different communities around the world. Its popularity in the West has helped to cement Japan’s global cultural influence, as Japanese cuisine gained a reputation for having healthy, fresh, and flavor-packed delicacies. Sushi’s beautiful and delicate presentation is attributed to the precision and skill of head sushi chefs known as itamae. The art of sushi-making can take up to a decade to master, as sushi chefs polish not just their knife skills but their centuries-old techniques.
1. The Origins of Sushi Are Not Japanese
While sushi has long been integral to Japanese culture, its origins date to 2nd-century Southeast Asia. Early inhabitants were known to rely on using a mixture of rice and salt to preserve the freshwater fish they caught in the Mekong River. This area, where modern-day Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia are situated, has been known for its hot climate, which made keeping food fresh challenging. To make their food supply last longer, locals would store cleaned fish in a salt and rice mixture in buckets for months. When it was time to consume the fish, the rice, which had become too salty, was discarded. This ancient practice of fermenting fish later spread to China and then Japan, where it was called nare-zushi, which translates as matured sushi.
2. Sushi Was Mentioned in Official Records in the 8th Century
The earliest reference to nare-zushi in Japanese historical records dates to the Nara period (710–794). In the Yōrō Code, a set of governing rules in ancient Japan, it was noted that nare-zushi, which contained ingredients such as abalone and mussels, were offered as tributes to the imperial court. The everyday Japanese, too, enjoyed nare-zushi as a tasty and healthy treat with ample protein. It was said that they would even soak the fermented fish in hot water to make medicinal teas. Today, after centuries, Nare-zushi still exists in Japan but remains a regional specialty confined to the areas surrounding Lake Biwa, the country’s largest freshwater lake.
3. Gradually, Fermentation Was No Longer Part of the Game
After nare-zushi became a staple in Japan, methods of preparation began evolving. During the Muromachi period (1336–1573), the Japanese experimented with shortening the fermentation time. This birthed a style of sushi called the nama-nare, which translates as partially fermented. This was also when people started consuming the fermented fish together with the rice—which was still edible owing to the reduced fermentation time.
By the early Edo period (1603–1867), fermentation was no longer the focus of the process. Innovative Japanese learned to mix rice with ready vinegar instead of relying on the vinegar created during the fermentation process. This style of sushi called the haya-zushi (fast sushi), was usually prepared within 24 hours and consumed immediately. By the mid-1700s, the fermentation process barely existed, with the introduction of the hako-zushi (box sushi). Taking only a couple of hours to make, hako-zushi featured compressed filleted fish and a layer of vinegared cooked rice in a wooden box.
4. The Sushi We Know Was Invented in the 1800s
Sliced fish placed atop vinegared rice hand-moulded into an oblong shape—this is the modern-day sushi that we are familiar with. Did you know that it was adapted from a kind of sushi called the nigiri-zushi (hand-pressed sushi), which was invented only in the 1800s? It was said that a Japanese chef named Hanaya Yohei had developed this new style in 1824 to reduce the preparation time for sushi. He placed sliced fish—either raw, marinated, simmered, or salted—on vinegared rice balls, which were squeezed to create the shape of the sushi. This method was hugely time-saving and even revolutionary for its time. In addition, it cemented sushi’s contemporary image as a convenience food that could be eaten on the go without any fuss.
Yohei first sold his nigiri-zushi from a box that he carried on his back and he later operated from a makeshift stand. He eventually opened a restaurant and enjoyed a bustling business until operations ceased in 1932. Apart from nigiri-zushi, other contemporary styles of sushi we know today also emerged from this period. Maki-zushi, which translates to rolled sushi, features vinegared rice and sushi toppings rolled up using a piece of roasted, dried seaweed called nori. Chirashi-zushi, which translates to scattered sushi, refers to a variety of sushi toppings such as egg, fresh sliced raw fish, and fish roe laid on top of a bed of room-temperature vinegared rice.
5. The Holy Trinity of Sushi Accompaniments: Wasabi, Ginger, Soy Sauce
Sushi is often eaten in the company of wasabi (Japanese horseradish), pickled ginger, and a dab of soy sauce. Interestingly, eating sushi with these three accompaniments is a practice popularised during the Edo period, when sushi was gaining popularity among the masses and fast becoming a mainstay in Japanese cuisine. A member of the Brassicaceae family, wasabi has a taste profile that is similar to that of hot mustard. Its root is grated into a green paste and served fresh alongside sushi. Wasabi has exceptional antimicrobial properties to help reduce the fishy smell, stop bacteria growth, and prevent food poisoning.
Pickled ginger, too, has antimicrobial properties that help get rid of bloodborne parasites found in raw fish. Often hailed as an effective palate cleanser, pickled ginger is also called gari, which is believed to be derived from the sound of biting or cutting into it. To further elevate the flavors of sushi, one can also lightly dip the fish or meat topping into the Japanese soy sauce. Contrary to popular belief and practice, one should not dip the part of the sushi with the rice into the soy sauce. Not only does this soak the rice and make the sushi excessively salty, but it is also considered a faux pas according to Japanese culinary customs.
6. 20th Century Sushi Boom Was Fueled by a Devastating Earthquake
Sushi remained on the streets as an enduring convenience food for the remainder of the Edo period and even through to the Meiji era. But on one fateful day in 1923, this was to change forever. The Great Kanto Earthquake hit the shores of Tokyo and Yokohama, leading to a 40-foot-tall tsunami and claiming the lives of more than 140,000 people. Devastating as it was, the earthquake had an unexpected side effect in that it caused real estate prices to drop dramatically. This turned into a blessing in disguise for sushi chefs. Roadside sushi kiosks turned into indoor establishments, allowing customers to dine comfortably without being subjected to inclement weather.
7. Sushi Became Popular in the West in the 20th Century
While most associate sushi’s popularity in the West with post-World War II America, sushi had conquered Western tastebuds from as early as the 1900s. This was owed to the increased Japanese immigration to the United States after the Meiji Restoration. Japanese restaurants sprouted all over Los Angeles, Minneapolis, Minnesota, St. Louis, Missouri, and North Dakota, among other places. By 1909, Japanese restaurants serving Japanese food in America numbered more than 300.
This also reflected a larger Japanophile craze that had swept across the Western world from the late 19th century. While Western artists grew obsessed with Japonism, housewives experimented with sushi making and organized Japanese soirees at home. The craze would gradually wane with legislation like the Oriental Exclusion Act of 1924 and the subsequent political tensions arising from World War II.
8. The Addition of Westernized Ingredients Created Variations of Sushi
For the uninitiated in the West, the idea of consuming raw fish and the sight of a black piece of seaweed is not exactly appetizing. To help skeptical consumers come to terms with eating sushi, chefs in North America added more Westernized ingredients such as avocado and cream cheese. Much to the chagrin of their Japanese counterparts, this birthed uniquely Western sushi variations such as the California roll. Featuring ingredients like imitation crab sticks, cucumber, and avocado, the California roll is often sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds or fish roe on the exteriors, with the seaweed cleverly hidden within. A Japanese Canadian chef based in Vancouver named Hidekazu Tojo claimed to be the inventor of the California roll back in the 1970s.
9. The Popular Salmon Sushi Was Not Even Born in Japan
While ubiquitous in Japanese cuisine today, salmon was once considered too unsanitary for raw consumption due to the presence of parasites. In Japan before the 1990s, locally caught Pacific salmon was usually grilled or pan-fried and regarded as a poor man’s fish used to fill stomachs. In traditional Japanese restaurants, chefs had always favored tuna or sea bream—salmon’s more sophisticated cousins—as toppings for sushi.
It was not until the early 1990s that an oversupply of farmed fish in Norway changed the fate of salmon. Norwegian fishing companies, with a surplus of parasite-free Norwegian salmon, were looking for a prospective buyer and eventually found one in a Japanese company called Nichirei. Nichirei imported some 5,000 tons of salmon to be used in sushi preparation. While it took some years for the Japanese public to accept raw salmon, its demand soon caught on thanks to its smooth texture and delicious fat.
