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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?
VM|10.17.07 @ 3:09PM|#
yeah - in Mississippi, it's called "bait and tackle shop"...
|10.17.07 @ 3:09PM|#
What a coincidence. I had sushi for lunch today.
|10.17.07 @ 3:16PM|#
Try Todai.
|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 @ 3:39PM|#
For the latest wave in sushi globalization, try naked sushi (work safe).
VM|10.17.07 @ 3:42PM|#
ProGLib -
I've always liked it... dunno why.
Oysters... mmmmm.
|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 @ 3:46PM|#
SEA URKON IS BEST EATEN IN THE RAW.
|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
Minion of URKOBOLD|10.17.07 @ 3:48PM|#
imposter:this thread::Monkfish:lobster
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 @ 3:49PM|#
Hi. I'm sixstring. (Hi sixstring!!) I am powerless in the presence of toro.
|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 @ 5:06PM|#
Reinmoose,
Agreed. It's an oral imperative.
|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 @ 5:27PM|#
Holy crap! I can't believe we've neglected the lobster this long.
Urkobold™|10.17.07 @ 5:45PM|#
NEGLECT THE WEIBSKOBOLD? NEVER! AND SHE MAKES EXCELLENT SUSHI!
|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.
|10.18.07 @ 8:45AM|#
I wonder if Nobu is "certified authentic" - Morimoto is a wild card!
|10.18.07 @ 3:00PM|#
Why have they no basashi in U.S.?