Happy & Healthy

12 FACTS A DEVOTED SUSHI EATER SHOULD KNOW

Threehundredandeighty times. I’m just making a rough estimation – the amount of times I’ve eaten sushi. I even once literally woke up at one thirty in the morning when my sister showed up with my favorite rolls (don’t ask me why someone would show up that late. When sushi is involved, I’m in). But anyways, I’ve written about why sushi is always a good idea before, but I figured I’d drag you all a little further into my obsession.

So insert drum roll please, today I’m here to share my sushi knowledge with you lot. Gold stars for everyone who already knew any of the following facts about the food:

– Did you know that sushi literally means ‘sour taste’? The rice that is used for sushi is made with rice vinegar and sugar.

– The odds are high that you’ve never actually had real wasabi. The green paste than most counties serve is a mix of mustard and regular- and horse radish. And these ingredients don’t really relate to how they make wasabi in Japan because those are made with the roots of Wasabia Japonica.

– In Japan it’s actually entirely normal to eat sushi with your hands. Those chopsticks? Oh, that’s just something us Western folk like and that’s pretty much the only reason we use them.

– The ginger (which tastes like toilet detergent to me) is used to neutralize your taste pallet in between the different sushi sorts you eat.

– And if you happen to be at a Japanese restaurant: that miso soup is actually meant to be drunk directly out of the bowl.

– Took a little more wasabi than you can handle? That ‘burn baby burn’ feeling will disappear in seconds if you take one deep breath in through you nose.

– A course to become a sushi chef (itamae san) takes at least five years. The current best sushi chef in the world is the 90 (!!) year old Jiro Ono. His restaurant Sukiyabashi Jiro has three Michelin stars. They even made a documentary about Jiro (and his restaurant) called: ‘Jiro Dreams of Sushi’.

– Sushi is very healthy, deep friend shrimp is not. Eating sushi at a Japanese restaurant is still a healthy meal as long as you stick to the basics: rice and seafood. Same rule applies here: think about your portion sizes too.

– Leaving leftover soya sauce is something the Japanese culture does not appreciate. So the next time you want to pour some into your soya sauce bowl, think twice before using half the bottle.

– It’s also not appreciated to hold your chopsticks and roll them in your hands. Doing that means you’re calling the restaurant where you’re eating ‘cheap’. And as you all know, offending a chef is never a good idea.

– Those same chopsticks should always be placed in their containers nicely aligned and with their tips pointing a little more to the right. It’s all about the details, people.

– Ever heading to Japan to and plan on eating sushi? Don’t leave a tip. In Western restaurants this is considered normal, but in Japan, this too, is seen as an offense.

Want to know how to make the coolest square shape sushi? Give this a quick look.