I will be the first to admit that I am skeptical of eating certain types of food. For example, I swore I would never eat sushi. It just looked wrong, especially with me being from the South where we not only cook everything, but we deep fry Twinkies. I never tried sushi until I was in California and then, it was only out of peer pressure. Co-workers and I went to a restaurant with a sushi bar in La Jolla called Cafe Japengo. I nervously looked around the restaurant, seeing what other people were eating. I was convinced the seaweed wrap looked like electrical tape and raw fish would taste terrible. But, you know what? I tried it, I loved it, and now I try to convert all my friends who still say “Ew, raw fish.”
It is commonly believed that sushi means raw fish, but it actually means vinegar rice. Not all sushi contains raw fish. However, sashimi (which is Japanese for raw seafood) is often served at sushi restaurants as well. Who was it that decided eating raw fish might be a good idea to begin with? Sushi origins go all the way back to the 4th century B.C. in Southeast Asia. But sushi as we know it evolved from the Japanese. They added the rice and vegetables during the Edo era. Sushi hit a peak during the health conscious 80’s and 90’s in America. Today, it is still a very popular dining choice. In fact, in San Diego, you can get fresh sushi at the local grocery stores.
So what have I tried and what did I like? The first thing I tried (and enjoyed) was a California roll. There is only one small problem – most California rolls contain no raw fish. California rolls traditionally consist of avocado, cucumber, imitation crabmeat, pickled ginger (known as gari), rice, and seaweed wrap. The next thing I tried was actually raw tuna (sashimi), which was very good as well. I have also tried raw salmon and it was good. I recommend mixing a small amount of wasabi (a green root that has a strong taste – like horseradish) with soy sauce and dipping your sushi in that.
Perhaps one of the best parts about visiting a sushi bar is to watch the chefs prepare your sushi. It is like watching an artist as they prepare the different types of rolls. If you have never tried sushi, do something different and go to a sushi bar. You might find you really like it!