The History of Sushi

4th Century B.C: Introduction

One of the best known delicacies to come out of Southeast Asia is Sushi, a Japanese dish that every tourist must try when visiting. It can be traced to a few parts of China and Southeast Asia as far back as the 4^th Century B.C. Sushi started out as a simple meal of preserved fresh-water fish, salted and fermented in rice. The traditional type, known as Nare-zushi, was prepared by cleaning and gutting freshwater fish, then salting it and storing it in rice that has been fermented using milk. The fermentation of the rice over a period of a few months not only preserved the fish, but added a unique flavor that many found mouthwateringly delicious. The fish was eaten while the fermented rice was discarded or fed to domestic fowls.

8^th Century A.D: Heian-Muromachi Eras

Due to trade and travel, the mode of fish preservation and preparation slowly spread over china and the rest of Southeast Asia. By the Heian period, which was around the 8^th Century AD, it had been introduced to the Japanese coastal regions. However, the Japanese preferred to consume, rather than discard, the rice. By the end of the Muromachi era, the Japanese version, seisei-zushi, had become a popular gourmet meal. It differed with the previous version in that it was served while the rice had not yet fully fermented and the fish was still partly raw. This type of Sushi was also popularly referred to by the locals as namanare or namanari.

17th Century: Edo/Tokugawa Period

The Japanese improved on the methods of preservation and preparation, and this led to the creation of haya-zushi. To prepare this, the rice was mixed with vinegar, an assortment of herbs and vegetables, and other dried foods. This ensured that neither the rice, nor any other ingredient used in the preparation, went to waste.

19th Century: End of Edo Period

In the late 1800’s, Tokyo’s food supplies were mainly hawked by mobile food kiosks/stalls. These hawkers combined the fish with some forms of delicious seaweeds collected from Edomae (Tokyo Bay Area) to create the nigiri-zushi. Due to the origin of the seaweeds and fresh fish, this type of sushi was, and it still is, commonly referred to as the Edomae-zushi. The Great Kanto earthquake of 1923 resulted in the migration of many people from Tokyo and Edomae area. This included chefs who spread and popularized the Edomae-zushi in many other parts of Japan as they fled the earthquake and the resultant economic hardships of Tokyo.

21st Century: Globalization Era

Widespread international travel, education, socialization, business practices such as franchising, and many other aspects of globalization today have reduced the world to a “virtual village”. This, in conjunction with the increased health consciousness and awareness worldwide, has popularized sushi in every corner of the world as one of the best and safest source of protein. Besides being considered a delicacy, Sushi’s health benefits have been lauded by nutrition experts and doctors. The introduction of the California Sushi Roll in the 70’s changed Western perceptions about eating raw fish and this was a gigantic step in the worldwide popularization of sushi. The invention of sushi machines that make mass production easy and the operation of sushibar in almost every major city in all the continents has further popularized the dish and increased its availability.