HISTORY OF SUSHI
We
can trace sushi's origin back to the 4th century BC in Southeast
Asia. As a preserved food, the salted fish, fermented with rice, was
an important source of protein. The cleaned and gutted fish were
kept in rice so that the natural fermentation of the rice helped
preserve the fish. This type of sushi is called nare-zushi, and was
taken out of storage after a couple of months of fermentation, and
then only the fish was consumed while the rice was discarded.
Over time, it spread throughout China, and later, around the 8th
century AD, in the Heian period, it was introduced into Japan. Since
Japanese preferred to eat rice together with fish, the sushi, called
seisei-zushi, became popular at the end of Muromachi period. This
type of sushi was consumed while the fish was still partly raw and
the rice had not lost its flavor. In this way, sushi became more of
a cuisine rather than a way to preserve food.
Later in Edo era, Japanese began making haya-zushi, which was
created as a way to eat both rice and fish; this dish was unique to
Japanese culture. Instead of being only used for fermentation, rice
was mixed with vinegar and combined not only with fish but also with
various vegetables and dried preserved foods. Today, each region of
Japan still preserves its own unique taste by utilizing local
products in making different kinds of sushi that have been passed on
for generations.
At the beginning of the19th century, when Tokyo was still called
Edo, the food service industry was mostly dominated by mobile food
stalls, from which nigiri-zushi originated. Edomae, which literally
means "in front of Tokyo bay," was where the fresh fish and tasty
seaweed for the nigiri-zushi were obtained. As a result, it was also
called edomae-zushi, and it became popular among the people in Edo
after Yohei Hanaya, a creative sushi chief, improved it to a simple
but delicious food. Then, after the Great Kanto earthquake in 1923,
nigiri sushi spread throughout Japan as the skilled edomae-zushi
chefs from Edo, who had lost their jobs, were diffused all over
Japan.
In the 1980s, in the wake of increased health consciousness, sushi,
one of the healthiest meals around, has gotten much more attention;
consequently, sushi bars have increased in the United States. With
the introduction of sushi machines, which combines the mass
production of sushi with the delicate skills used by sushi chefs,
making and selling sushi has become more accessible to countries all
over the world.
