Sushi
This word conjures a specific mental image; slices of fresh raw fish draped delicately atop sushi rice seasoned with rice vinegar and sugar. In the current day (and to be clear, this is written in 2024), we know this as nigiri or nigirizushi. Unbeknownst to the majority of people, the concept is relatively young, having only been invented 200 years ago and is one link of many in a larger chain leading to our current interpretation of "sushi".
Narezushi
Sushi's origins are not in Japan but in the Mekong Delta, near the intersection of Thailand, Laos and China. The Delta would frequently flood, bringing freshwater fish inland on a seasonal basis. While coastal inhabitants had access to fish throughout the year, inland inhabitants were forced to preserve fish if they wanted to keep an edible supply throughout the year. At first, fish, guts and all, was packed tightly with salt. Digestive enzymes inside the fish guts would break down the flesh and salt prevented growth of harmful bacteria. The result was a fermented fish paste, and is the origin of Asian fish sauce.
Salt in large quantities was difficult to find, so the packing material changed over time from salt to cooked rice, creating an airtight barrier that prevented the growth of most harmful bacteria while also promoting the growth of other benign bacteria that heartily feasted on the rice's sugars and created lactic or acetic acid as by-products. This acid was absorbed by the rice, creating a secondary bacterial barrier, although altering the taste of the rice to the point that it had to be discarded. According to Trevor Carson's The Story of Sushi, one of the few English treatises on the culinary history of sushi, and a 12th century Japanese source, this rice was "no different from the the vomit of a drunkard."
The taste of the fish changed significantly, reminiscent of a pungent aged cheese with vinegary undertones. Since fish packed in this manner was edible for up to a year, it was called narezushi or aged sushi.
Evidence of narezushi can be found across Southeast Asia, with its first appearance around 3500 B.C. It is surmised that it spread northwards from Thailand to China and eventually Japan. It is commonly thought to be the first application of pairing rice with fish in Japan and was considered a delicacy, to the point that it could be used to pay taxes in Japan in AD 718.
The traditional preparation of narezushi can still be found today with the most famous version at Lake Biwa in Japan, where crucian carp is used. However, many countries in southeast Asia have their own take on the dish. For example, the Chinese province of Hunan has yuzha, which is traditionally prepared with carp fermented in a mixture of black rice, chili powder, and salt. The Philippines has burong isda, where fish is cured with salt, red yeast rice, and cooked rice. And Thailand has pla ra, river fish preserved with rice bran and salt.
The Portuguese Arrive
In 1543, the Portuguese landed on the island of Tanegashima, located south of the city of Kagoshima on Japan's main southern island of Kyushu. This was one of the last major Portuguese colonies completing a network stretching from Portugal to Asia, enabling them to become the mercantile middleman between Europe and Southeast Asia. In short order, the Dutch would join Portugal although Japan ensured that foreign trade could only be conducted on the artificially created island of Dejima off of Nagasaki in an attempt to limit foreign influence.
Without Portugal, tempura and castela would most likely be missing from Japan's culinary landscape. Other integral parts of Portugal's legacy in Japan include Japan's introduction to European firearms and an attempt at introducing Christianity, which was ultimately held back and led to Japan expelling Portugal.
In an effort to maintain power and stabilize the country (and to be fair, this is a very simplified view of the matter), Tokugawa Ieyasu would institute a national policy of seclusion, otherwise known as Sakoku, with strict rules on trade. This would last from 1635 to 1855, a period of time marked by stability, prosperity and great advances in Japanese culture.
Haya zushi
Over time, the fermentation period of narezushi slowly decreased and while the exact reasons are unknown, the main culprits are most likely abundance of wealth and impatience. People who were well off could afford fish at regular intervals and had no need to preserve their fish. With burgeoning fish supplies, pots were cracked open before the end of the fermentation period and it was discovered that the fish and the rice were surprisingly edible despite the shorter fermentation time. The taste was different; the fish was less cheesy and the rice pleasingly tart. Sushi in this period was known as nama-nari or partially fermented sushi.
Around the year 1600, enterprising sake producers discovered that sake could be turned into rice vinegar with the introduction of bacteria and leaving the mixture to ferment. Later on, a doctor would splash some of this rice vinegar onto sushi rice only to discover that the taste was awfully similar to the rice in nama-nari. Rice vinegar could still inhibit bacterial growth, which enabled the complete removal of the fermentation period. This sushi was called haya-zushi or fast sushi and it would predominantly be made via the pressing of fish fillets onto vinegared rice through the weight of heavy stones.
However, without refrigeration, fresh fish was still at risk of spoiling. Thus, sushi in this time period was never raw and chefs would use various methods to cook seafood including but not limited to marinating in vinegar or soy sauce, curing, simmering, and boiling.
Edomae sushi and nigiri
After the Battle of Sekigahara in 1600, the capital of Japan relocated from Kyoto to Edo, a small fishing town located on the mouth of Edo Bay. As the new capital, feudal nobles proceeded to build secondary homes in Edo while also bringing their retinue prompting a small construction boom and associated worker influx to build Edo into a city befitting of its new capital status. With an increasing number of mouths to feed, enterprising business owners opened up outdoor stalls at a prodigious rate focusing on fast cuisine. Combining ingredients sourced from the Bay and the cooking techniques of the time to increase shelf life, a regional cuisine appropriately called Edomae cuisine, or "in front of Edo" emerged. A famous example of this cuisine included unagi no takayaki, where eel is broiled in a sauce made from soy sauce and sugar.
Unfortunately, a requirement of Edomae cuisine was fire and over the 1600s, Edo would routinely burn and be rebuilt. The government eventually banned hot noodle soup stalls in a preventive attempt at yet another blaze. With the change in policy, stalls pivoted to serving haya-zushi, a relatively safe food item to produce with no requirement for fire. It is thought that this policy change established sushi's popularity in the Edo Era and propelled it into the historical mainstream.
However, haya zushi was no longer fast enough despite the name. Cooking prep was still required for the individual components and the mixture had to be weighed down for approximately two hours, thus limiting the speed at which it could be cranked out to waiting customers. Around the early 1800s, a sushi itamae had the idea to squeeze slices of cooked fish, sourced from Edo Bay, atop small balls of vinegared rice, neatly sidestepping the issue of speed and spoilage altogether.
With that, the prototypical nigiri and new regional specialty, Edomae sushi, were formed. While Hanaya Yohei is often credited for this discovery in 1824 and called the father of Edomae sushi, other theories posit that he wasn't necessarily the creator, but had applied his marketing wisdom to the initial product before it was sold.
The Bay was chock full of fish including eel, bonito, gizzard shad and other fish and these were all used in Edomae sushi. But tuna was the one fish that no one could be bothered to eat. Despite being plentiful, it was considered an inferior fish and only a massive bumper harvest in 1840 would force sushi stalls into experimenting with the fish. The first tuna dish was tuna marinated in soy sauce. Even then, it was a food served for the working-class and would continue to be looked down upon for many years with equal parts scorn and disdain.
Edomae sushi's popularity soared. It was a win-win situation for all; an easy snack for the citizenry and easy to prepare for the stalls. This organic relationship led to more stalls, increasing the reach and popularity of Edomae sushi, which led to even more stalls. Eventually, the design of the stalls would evolve into sit down shops where the first sushi counters were developed.
Makizushi
The vaunted sushi roll was surprisingly invented in approximately the same time period as nigiri although depending on one's interpretation of a sushi roll, it was invented either before the advent of nigiri or alongside it. The first mention of makizushi can be found in a Japanese cookbook in 1776 although the ingredients are a bit more exotic than the typical roll eaten today. Chefs were to spread rice across the skin of a poisonous blowfish, lay fish across the centre of the skin, tighten the roll using a window blind, and then weigh down the roll. While sushi rolls no longer use blowfish skin, the rolling instructions has had far reaching influence into the present day.
The bamboo mats of today look like window blinds because that is precisely what was used.
The traditional maki, where seaweed was on the exterior of the roll, makes an appearance In the Morisada Manko, a historical account of life during the Edo period and published for a 30 year period starting from 1837. With nigiri supposedly invented in the 1820s, this places the traditional norimaki and nigiri at approximately the same time period.
The Americans Arrive
In the 1850s, Commodore Perry arrived with his black ships to deliver a letter from the 13th President of United States requesting the opening of trade between America and Japan. Through a combination of internal Japanese conflicts weakening their position, and a continual show of contempt (projected or not) and implied threats by Commodore Perry, the Convention of Kanagawa was signed allowing for American trade at Hakodate and Shimoda. Keen to not be put in a disadvantageous situation, other nations sign trading treaties to Japan's disadvantage, and effectively brought Japan's Sakoku period to an end.
With trade opened to the rest of the world, Western restaurants soon popped up in Japan to serve traders and merchants, introducing Japanese to the Western consumption of meat. However, the Japanese had more or less abstained from meat (admittedly, there were plenty of exceptions) for a period of 1000 years due to Shinto Buddhist beliefs and the practicality of maintaining animals for farm work, rather than food. But with visible differences in the build of the average Japanese person compared to a Westerner, the Emperor believed that the Japanese population could only benefit from a diet of meat and dairy. Thus, in 1872, he would eat meat as part of the New Year and kickstart the normalization of meat consumption for the Japanese. In 1873, French cuisine became the official cuisine for diplomatic dinners.
Over time, Western food grew in popularity and introduced red meat and fattier textures to the Japanese palate. Fattier cuts of fish that used to be tossed aside, were introduced to sushi.
Great Kanto Earthquake
On September 1, 1923, the Philippine Sea Plate subducted beneath the Okhotsk Plate, only 30 miles south of Tokyo. This resulted in an earthquake of magnitude 7.9 on the Richter scale that persisted for 10 minutes during the lunch hour. A 40 foot tsunami followed and then, the fires spread across Tokyo culminating in firestorms and even a firewhirl that struck an evacuation area close to the Sumida River, killing 44, 000. By the time the flames subsided on September 3, 140, 000 Japanese had died and 45% of Tokyo had turned to dust.
Many itamae suddenly found themselves without a shop. These itamae returned to their hometowns and opened up their own shops in villages and cities throughout Japan far away from Tokyo, spreading the reach of the Edomae style of sushi.
World War II and the American Occupation
Japan's entrance into World War II had a ripple effect on sushi. A rationing system was implemented, which forced the closure of many shops throughout the country due to the lack of the rice. After Japan's loss, the policy was not changed and rationing stayed in effect.
The Americans occupied Japan with General MacArthur acting as the de facto leader of the country. One of his ideas to re-stimulate the Japanese economy was to revitalize the restaurant industry. One sushi chef petitioned General MacArthur's staff to re-open sushi shops stating their importance to the culture and to Japanese people. As a result, General MacArthur instituted a consignment process where Japanese citizens could pay sushi chefs to make sushi but with rice provided by the customer. One cup of rice was to make ten pieces of sushi, seven nigiri and three piece of thin roll. After a successful trial period in Tokyo, the consignment process was instituted across the country with the caveat that the sushi created had to be nigiri, which was essentially Edomae, giving an admittedly large advantage to nigiri versus other regional styles of sushi. Seafood was still rationed and strictly regulated so chefs had to experiment with new ingredients. Many of these new ingredients are still used today.
The American occupation also decided to ban outdoor food stalls as a public health hazard. With the decrease in land prices, many itamae pivoted and built new indoor sushi restaurants. To recreate the atmosphere of the outdoor stalls, many of these new restaurants construct a high counter inside the restaurant, essentially a predecessor of the the sushi bars of today.
The California Roll
The origin of ubiquitous California Roll, a mixture of cucumber, avocado and imitation crab meat with the seaweed on the inside, is contested. Some say that it was created in 1970s California when a chef substituted avocado for tuna belly in an attempt to replicate the fatty texture of elusive tuna belly. The story also stipulates that the chef perceived that Americans did not like seeing or eating seaweed and made a conscious decision to invert the roll, putting the seaweed on the interior. Others believe that it was actually created in Vancouver, Canada where the chef decided to turn the roll inside-out to please the culinary tastes of the area. In this version of the origin story, the name "California Roll" was born because many of his restaurant patrons came from California and loved the idea.
Regardless, no one can contest the impact of the California Roll and how it established the foundation of the inside-out roll, but more importantly how it has helped sushi and Japanese cuisine, make inroads in the Western market.
The Burgeoning Popularity of Salmon in Japan
With the advent of aquafarming techniques developed in the 1960s, Norway found themselves with an immense glut of salmon. So much, that tons upon tons of salmon were stored in vast industrial freezers. Seeing a valuable trading opportunity, Norway searched far and wide across the globe for an amenable export partner and saw vast potential in Japan. They started Project Japan, brought together a group of Japanese fish industry executives and pitched that salmon sushi would be the next big thing.
But they didn't expect such staunch resistance from the Japanese.
It was the wrong colour. It smelled funny. The taste was offputting. The size of the head was wrong.
All sorts of reasons were brought up, but the source of these reasons was that the Japanese thought salmon was unsanitary. The salmon that Japanese ate was frequently infected with Anisakiasis parasites, a nematode that buried itself into the gastrointestinal tract. To kill these parasites, the traditional method of preparation for salmon always involved grilling or pan-frying so the thought of eating salmon raw was anathema.
The Norwegians didn't give up as their farmers could ensure their farmed salmon had no parasites. They invested 30 million Norwegian kroner over 10 years in an attempt to change the Japanese outlook on Norwegian sourced salmon. But it wasn't until a deal was struck with Nichirei, a Japanese frozen food distributor, for 5000 tons of cheap salmon that the Norwegians could see victory. The only condition of the deal was that Nichirei had to market the salmon in supermarkets as salmon sushi.
It was a resounding success.
Conclusion
Sushi appears to be a fixed concept but nothing can be further from the truth. Some itamae, such as Terai-san at Bellwood Sushi, completely eschew the traditional form of sushi taking inspiration and ingredients from other countries for truly surprising creations. Others, such as Kimaru-san at Sushi Kimaru who experiment with aging techniques for his neta, experiment and perfect one aspect of the sushi.
And yet others don't focus on these high-stake goals. They are not pushing the limits of sushi. They are not trying to be the superlative sushi experiences of say, a Sushi Saito or a Jiro Ono. Instead, they make the conscious decision to be the friendly neighbourhood shop, and take pride in knowing the particular quirks of their regular customers.
In Ottawa, a new sushi restaurant has opened that follows this model. He just wants his space to be a calm oasis, where customers can come find a few hours of respite from the realities of life.
This is the story of Hiroha Moriyuki and Nagi Sushi.
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