HISTORY OF SUSHI

	What is sushi
	Sushi Glossary

What is sushi

Many kinds of sushi has been developed in Japan, but in foreign countries, Sushi no longer exists, and even if it does, not at it's original form. Sushi was originally a form of preserving fish since there were no refrigerators and other technologies we have back in the days. In order to preserve, they needed salt and rice, which marked the start of Sushi we have today.

Japan is an island nation, so its surrounding seas provide the Japanese with variety of fresh fish and shellfish. Also, since Japan's topography is mountainous, the arable lands are cultivated with rice and few other crops. So naturally, Japanese people have always fed themselves from sea and rice fields.

In Japan, Sushi began as a method of preserving fish centuries ago. Cleaned raw fish were pressed between layers of salt, and stone was placed to weight it. Few weeks later, stone would be removed and placed with a light cover, and few months after, the fermented fish and rice were to be eaten. Some restaurants in Tokyo still serve this original style of sushi, and it is called nare, sushi made with freshwater carp.

In eighteenth century, a chef named Yohei decided to serve sushi in somewhat in its present form. It became very popular and emerged in to two different styles. One of them was Kansai style, from the city of Osaka in the Kansai region, and the other called Edo style, from Tokyo, which was then called Edo. The Kansai style sushi consisted seasoned rice mixed with other ingredients, producing decorative packages, and it has more history and techniques to it comparing to the Edo style sushi. Edo style sushi is nigiri sushi (often referred to as Edomae-sushi), which feature small amount of seafood on a seasoned rice. Kansai region's ornamental sushi is popular, but foreigners are more familiar with the nigiri sushi.

Nare-sushi is a sushi made with carp in the vicinity of Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture, and preparing this sushi takes from 2 months to more than a year. And when it was eaten, they only ate the fish, and discarded the rice. People eventually thought that this whole process took too much time, and it was a waste of rice. These thoughts led to the development of nama-nare or han-nare sushi, which can be made in a few days, and it consisted of eating both fish and the rice.

In 1824, a man named Hanaya Yohei had the idea of eating sliced, raw seafood at its freshest. He served the raw fish on small fingers of vinegard rice, and the stall he opened became very popular. And sushi stalls were emerging almost everywhere in Edo by the middle of the 19^thCentury. The stalls had wheels so when the sushi makers found a popular spot to do their business; they almost did everything they can to get the spot. People stopped by for a snack in their stalls, and there were no formal table manners as there is today. They used fingers to dip sushi in the soy sauce etc., and wiped them off on the noren, which became well stained at the end of the business hour, and showed the sushi maker how well the business went that day.

After the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923, many elegant sushi shops were emerging. Even though they had chairs and tables, some of the customers consumed their food outside. So during this stage, the noren hung from a bar in front of the shop. And after the World War II, sushi stalls were no longer seen. During the 1960s, people realized that eating while standing wasn't a formal manner, so they began to eat seated as it is today.


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