An Introduction to Sushi
Sushi is a kind of Japanese food which mostly consists of cooked and vinegared wine along with other ingredients. Among these other ingredients of course is famously some forms of raw fish. Here the rice is known as 'shan' while the 'neta' is the seafood. While the seafood is what many people will know about sushi, it is actually the shan that that is the main thing that it has in common.
Sushi originated in Southeast Asia and soon after spread to China and Japan. The term originally means 'sour tasting' as it used to be fermented. Today it has altered slightly though the preparation process is similar in Japan.
The main ingredient as mentioned in sushi is the rice or shan, but there are many types of sushi which are defined by the food added to the rice.
For instance Chirashizushi is a bowl of sushi rice which is topped with sashimi and garnishes. Inarizushi is a pouch of fried tofu meanwhile which is often filled with just sushi rice. Meanwhile makizushi are variety rolls. These are the black rolls that you might encounter if you have ever purchased sushi in a supermarket. The rolls are covered in spinach, and inside they will contain rice and often a variety of fish and seafoods including salmon and tuna. Often you will add to these an amount of soy sauce. The Makizushi are prepared as one long oblong, but then are rolled up and subsequently cut into much smaller futomaki.
Another common form of sushi in the West is Oshizushi which is a pressed sushi - pressed into the shape of a box using a wooden block. You then get a square piece of rice, often with some salmon or something else on top.
Sushi is largely enjoyed in small portions so that you try lots of small piece of sushi in the same way that you might enjoy to eat Tapas. This means that each person will get to enjoy a lot of different types of sushi in one sitting and it also means that the food is ideal for sharing. In the West companies such as Yo Shushi have innovated in the way that sushi is served - and it will often come on conveyor belts allowing you to pick the sushi dishes you like as they go past. Of course this is an idea influenced by sushi restaurants in the East, but it nevertheless has helped to make sushi very fashionable and enjoyable over here.
