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Katherine Mangu-Ward looks at the globalization of sushi.
javier|10.17.07 @ 2:42PM|#
very good article. The character for sushi actually refers to the vinegared rice, not the fish. As you pointed out the sushi being synonymous with raw fish comes later. I have been trying to tell my friends that those extravagant rolls they eat aren't really that japanese, not that that is a bad thing.
|10.17.07 @ 2:58PM|#
I love sushi. I used to regret not having it during my brief
visit to Tokyo, but, after watching Iron Chef and risking
the abomination that is raw sea urchin, I'm perfectly satisfied
with the Americanized variety.
NPR did a bit on this book a couple of months ago. I thought the
points raised were interesting, and sushi is one of those
indicators that "globalization" is a two-way street.
VM|10.17.07 @ 3:03PM|#
"risking the abomination that is raw sea urchin"
UNI - it's fantastic stuff!!!!
|10.17.07 @ 3:04PM|#
Sushi, I can take it or leave it. Being in a free country, I generally leave it.
|10.17.07 @ 3:05PM|#
Mmmm, Hawaiian sushi! Spam instead of raw fish guts. Good stuff. Or how about Texas sushi? Twice the size, and barbecued!
|10.17.07 @ 3:07PM|#
"risking the abomination that is raw sea urchin"
I nearly wretched right there at the sushi bar. Course I was in
Mississippi, so what the hell was I thinking?
|10.17.07 @ 3:16PM|#
VM,
You like uni? Aside from its disgusting appearance and
texture and less-than-thrilling taste, what do you like about it?
I'm willing to experiment and like a wide variety of sushi options,
but ahi is the sun around which my sushi orders
revolve.
By the way, I've noticed that sushi is actually fairly popular in
the Deep South. Go figure. That's a major change, because I was
raised with the sushi = bait mindset. Obviously, I changed my
mind.
Guy Montag|10.17.07 @ 3:20PM|#
Now, if someone makes a sushi roll of 900 calories, will the
food police attack them like they are attacking Hardees?
Wow, the t-shirt chick is hot. I bet she is almost 900 calories
herself!
Episiarch|10.17.07 @ 3:23PM|#
Uni rocks. What don't you like about it?
White tuna is, however, the most subtle and delicious of the
fish.
NoStar|10.17.07 @ 3:27PM|#
This blog needs a soundtrack.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cg18bWhbOKM
cut&paste or click on my name.
|10.17.07 @ 3:31PM|#
Hard to beat a good tako, but at the end of the day, ahi is the queen of sushi.
|10.17.07 @ 3:38PM|#
Look, I studied karate for a long time, and there's a concept you should really be familiar with. It's what the Japanese call unagi.
|10.17.07 @ 3:38PM|#
There isn't anything that's been hauled out of the Sea and put on a plate that I don't love. Sushi tops the list. Still haven't tried blowfish, but am looking forward to it.
|10.17.07 @ 3:43PM|#
ProLib,
I just got back from a short trip around the deep south and I
noticed that kimchi is super popular in non-Korean restaurants
even, much to my surprise and delight!
|10.17.07 @ 3:43PM|#
My uni experience is famous within my family. I'm very
willing to try new foods and don't hate very many things that I
have tried, but uni just overwhelmed me with its evil
ways. Naturally, if we ever have sushi together, I'll eat the tuna,
and you can have all the sea urchin. No, really, I insist.
de stijl,
Eel is okay, but I favor other fishies.
Warren,
You mean fugu? Isn't it on the expensive side? I
understand that the toxin is virtually impossible to encounter (in
lethal quantities), these days. I assume it's not available in the
U.S., what with all of our bibertarians.
VM,
Oysters are fine. Raw or otherwise.
|10.17.07 @ 3:48PM|#
at the end of the day, ahi is the queen of sushi.
Ahi is the favorite, but I prefer the sweet butter of
sake
VM|10.17.07 @ 3:49PM|#
ProGLib:
that is why the UNI is the food for the URKOBOLD. That and the
freshest ahi. The greatest evil, and the biggest joy!
|10.17.07 @ 4:04PM|#
Real men eat Funa Zushi. Mmmmmm fermented fish paste.
But seriously, Uni is delicious, and coming in at a close second is
the delectable Inari.
|10.17.07 @ 4:14PM|#
No way this thread was gonna be on globalization. No way.
I'm hungry. Yes, some yellow-tail snapper and tuna are on my
horizon--I can feel it.
|10.17.07 @ 4:20PM|#
Oddly, one of the top zagat-rated sushi places in Seattle is, in fact, in a strip mall. It's called Izumi, and it's in Kirkland, and I highly recommend it if you're ever in the area.
VM|10.17.07 @ 4:21PM|#
Scape -
a horrifying link! I got fired from a job as the table/plate.
Apparently, my MEHAIR SWEATER was considered unappetizing for the
customers.
*wipes away tear. kicks pebble.
HRUMPH
|10.17.07 @ 4:44PM|#
I've actually been surprised by how much I like makerel (as
available at sushi places in Maryland), and I see ahi as classic,
and red snapper has its appeal
I don't think I have a favorite, really.
I do think that i'll be raiding the nearest sushi
restaurant this evening though :)
|10.17.07 @ 5:22PM|#
Uni is inedible. At least fugu only causes paralysis and death. It doesn't look like a diaper load wrapped in nori.
|10.17.07 @ 5:25PM|#
Sushi classics that never get old:
Hamachi is the king of standard offerings.
Suzuki is a close second.
American salmon is better than what they get over there, for
obvious reasons.
|10.17.07 @ 7:09PM|#
No mention of the Reverend Moon's substantial sushi-related-program-activities?
|10.17.07 @ 8:05PM|#
There is a great difference between fresh uni (i.e. freshly
disgorged from its shell) and prepared uni. Most restaurants serve
prepared uni and many do so poorly. Fresh uni is firm, fragrant and
sweet. If fresh is available order it as sashimi. Nevertheless,
even prepared uni can be firm, fragrant and sweet if it is kept and
served refrigerator cold and not so old.
Uni is like any other raw sea food you might try, it can be sublime
or it can be flat, fishy and near impalpable. Uni just happens to
be very good when it is good and very bad when it is bad. Uni is
the canary in Japanese restaurants: If you don't like the uni, get
out! If the uni isn't so good maybe you don't want to eat anything
else.
Mr. Blather|10.17.07 @ 8:31PM|#
"There is no such thing as authentic sushi, and there never has
been. There was no moment when sushi was purely traditional. And
tuna and avocado rolls taste a heck of lot better than a cask of
semi-rotten whitefish packed with rice."
Apparently KMW hasn't heard about the new Japanese food police. In
an attempt to funnel Japanese tourists to restaurants that use
imported Japanese ingredients and to save said tourists from the
horror of trying something different, they travel around the world
certifying Japanese restaurants as "authentic" or not. Serving
California rolls, as popular as they are in Japan, is enough to get
you branded "not authentic". Not using Japanese grown rice might
get you a downgrade as well.
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