This famous dish of contemporary Japanese cuisine, increasingly popular in Europe, did not originate in Japan.
The Chinese were the first to combine fish and rice.
From the second century onwards, fish in China was preserved between layers of fermented rice, allowing the starch to prevent decomposition.
The fish could then be eaten months after it was caught, while the rice was discarded.
An early version of this speciality is believed to have reached Japan in the eighth century, brought by Buddhist monks.
It took much longer for sushi as we know it today to appear. In the seventeenth century, the Japanese added rice vinegar to speed up fermentation, but the fish was still marinated or cooked. Modern sushi appeared only in the first half of the nineteenth century in Edo, now Tokyo: pieces of raw fish placed on a ball of rice were sold as inexpensive food that was quick to prepare and convenient to eat. A white curtain hung beside the stalls for customers to wipe their hands. Customers looked for the stall with the dirtiest curtain, meaning the busiest, to identify the best one.
Source: Focus
Is there anything that ‘let me treat you to sushi tonight’ cannot solve?
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