Modern Sushi Essay

Development of Modern Sushi For people in Japan, rice and fish are two primary dietary pillars. Served together as sushi, the traditional Japanese dish has long been a favored delicacy. The initial form of sushi was developed as a method to preserve fish through a rice fermentation process. After the salted fish was enfolded in fermented rice, it was stored for many months at a time to prevent spoilage. Once the elongated process had undergone, the rice was discarded while only the fish was devoured, dissimilar to modern ways of sushi consumption. In the course of the Edo period, vinegar was discovered to shorten the fermentation process and was used to displace lactic acid fermentation. Haya-zushi, or fast sushi, marked the beginning of a

While Japan is generally accredited with the assembly of Haya-zushi and modern day sushi, the procedure of fermenting fish in rice has an origin in Southeast Asia. With the prevalence of Buddhism in Japan, the Japanese diet called for an abstinence from meats. As a result, the need for protein led the Japanese to turn to a dietary practice consisting of fish. Through the early nineteenth century, the Japanese cuisine was slowly changing, as was sushi. After the Azuchi-Momoyama period, which resulted in displacing the original fermentation process with rice vinegar, namanrina sushi cut the elongated sushi process in half, while also marinating the rice (Shinoda). According to Konjaku Monogatarish, one of the primary reasons leading to the shift from storing fish to the utilization of vinegar was the fish’s distinctive smell. Often described as a strong mixed scent between blue cheese and fish, Monogatarish makes it clear that the smell of the stored fish had an unattractive quality. By the middle of eighteenth century Edo, sushi restaurants became prevalent as the Japanese population began to enjoy greater affluence, while the call for greater variety resulted in an increased demand for sushi. In a mere twenty years after the beginning of the nineteenth century, Edo saw thousands of sushi restaurants. In

However, due to innovative sushi restaurants and chiefs, America has seen a superb increase in sushi availability and is even found prepackaged in grocery stores. Like other foreign dishes, sushi has a wide appeal to those looking for a novel food experience but still recognizable as appetizing to eat. A dish favored by the Japanese for half a century, sushi has evolved into an international cuisine, popular for its simplicity, taste, and dietary benefits. In addition to nutritional values, the different toppings and flavors used by the chiefs added to the modernization effect that is aided by the Japanese today. Sushi has created a prototype for foreign dish modernization, and has made leeway for other Japanese and international cuisines, such as noodles, curry, and