Books: Oishii - The History Of Sushi By Eric C.Rath

(Drivebycuriosity) - Do you like Sushi? If You want to know more about this delicacy then the book "Oishii: The History of Sushi" by Eric C. Rath answers many questions (amazon ). Oishii means delicious.

According to Rath there are two kinds of sushi. The first, and earliest, are sushi that are sour owing to lactic-acid fermentation, and the second are sushi that have as slightly sour taste because of the addition of vinegar. Both sushi flavored with vinegar and sushi using lactic-acid fermentation rely on rise (or another grain).

Sushi began as fermented food. Fermented and pickled meat and fish are mentioned in Chinese Zhou dynasty (ca. 1046-256 BCE) sources, but these foods were not widely consumed until the early Han dynasty (206 BC-220 GE). 

Two millennia ago, sushi - or what the Chinese call zha and zhi - was fish fermented in salt with or without rice; today the same characters, as well as the English word sushi, refer to a plethora of ways to prepare not just fish but all sorts of foods. Rath describes the historical transformation from sushi originally made with lactic-acid fermentation to fast sushi in which sake, koji ( tastingtable) and vinegar were added to facilitate fermentation.

The early recipes (Chinese & Japanese) describe how to preserve fish like pickles. Usually fish was combined with rice and put in a bucket. The cook put a lid and a heavy stone on the bucket to create pressure. The purpose of the stone was to seal the containers and to force the lid down on the content of the bucket, thereby pressing out any moisture. After some months the fish was ready to be consumed. Modern recipes recommend to use sake, koji or vinegar to hasten the fermentation process.

I find it very helpful that the author describes the chemistry of sushi making: Rice (or another grain) is used as a medium for fermentation. Rice contains starch, which breaks down into glucose. Lactic-acid bacteria feed on the glucose to produce lactic-acid, which transforms food. First, it acts as a preservative. Lactic acid lowers the pH of the perishable food and inhibits the growth of microbes that could cause diseases. Second, lactic acid imparts tartness. Lactic-acid fermentation is the reason why yoghurt has a sour taste. Finally, lactic-acid fermentation breaks down the proteins in animal or fish flesh into amino acids. If the process continues long enough, it will also render the bones soft enough to eat  (pages 12/13). In contrast that sushi that rely on vinegar, which are best eaten immediately after they are made, lactic-acid fermentation takes a lot time.

Today sushi is often served in its nigirizushi incarnation:"An assortment of small morsels of the freshest raw fish and sea food pressed onto cold rice slightly seasoned with vinegar" (p.20)

One chapter is about "the skills of the masters of the carving knife" (p. 59ff). Modern sushi depends on the skills of a chef capable of slicing fish correctly and presenting it attractively.

The book touches the economics of the sushi business and describes how the delicacy advanced in Japan from snacks & street food to restaurant cuisine in the 20th century. In some cases "the freshness of the fish hardly mattered because the customers came to see the beautiful female serving staff". 

Rath continues with the global spread and the exploding popularity in the US in the late 20th century, the advance of sushi restaurant chains and the rise of cheap conveyor-belt sushi bars. Today, the most widely available sushi is the sushi roll, called makizuschi, which chefs put anything in, anything on top of and have reconstructed  into bagel, doughnut and pizza shapes.

He also touches topics like global over-fishing and health concerns with raw fish & meat. The risk of worms and other parasites can be minimized when the fish used in restaurant has been frozen (US law requires -20C/(-4F), but fish, especially from predatory species, can contain mercury.

The History of Sushi is informative, entertaining & mouth watering. Highly recommended.