History of "Sushi"

The history of sushi began around the 8th century in Japan. The original type of sushi was first developed in Southeast Asia as a means of preserving fish in fermented rice. In the Muromachi period, people began to eat the rice as well as the fish. During the Edo period, vinegarrather than lacto-fermentation was used to sour the rice. In modern times, it is an early form of fast food strongly associated with Japanese culture

United States

Two women eating sushi in the United States in 2016.

Sushi was first served in the United States in the early 1900s following an influx of Japanese immigration after the Meiji Restoration.^[22] A wave of Japanophilia in American high society resulted in the serving of sushi at social functions.^[22] The earliest published mention of sushi eaten by non-Japanese Americans was a August 18, 1904 article in the Los Angeles Herald about a luncheon served in Santa Monica by the socialite Fern Dell Higgins.^[22] The popularity of the dish was at a peak in 1905 when it was served at Japanese-themed social gatherings across the United States, including in mid-western cities such as Minneapolis, Minnesota, St. Louis, Missouri and Bismarck, North Dakota.^[22] Several years later, a wave of anti-Japanese nativism sentiments and restrictions on Japanese immigration, starting with the Gentlemen's Agreement of 1907, caused a subsequent decline in the acceptance of Japanese cuisine.^[22][23]

The first American sushi restaurants appeared in the early 1960s, most notably in major metropolitan areas of Los Angeles and New York City.^[24] The Kawafuku restaurant in the Little Tokyo neighborhood of Los Angeles, founded in 1966 by Noritoshi Kanai and Harry Wolff, is credited as the first American restaurant "to commercially transport large amounts of fish from Japan, for the purpose of making sushi, on a regular basis."^[24]

The California roll was invented in Los Angeles by substituting a slice of avocado for the seasonal toro (fatty tuna) in a traditional maki roll.^[25]

This food is believed to be similar to Narezushi, i.e. that the fish was fermented for long times in conjunction with rice and was then eaten after removing the rice.

A century later, the meaning of the two characters had become confused and by the time these two characters arrived in Japan, the Chinese themselves did not distinguish between them. The Chinese had stopped using rice as a part of the fermentation process, and then stopped eating pickled fish altogether. By the Ming dynasty, "鮨" and "鮓" had disappeared from Chinese cuisine.

Why is sushi so popular around the world?

One factor is that it packs a punch of umami, and everybody love foods with umami (think parmesan cheese, tomato sauces, truffles etc.).

Another factor is that sushi “devolved” pretty fast in the US (and throughthe non-Japanese world) into a deluxe type of “comfort food”. It looks great, and it tastes great, and it remains somewhat affordable. One might say it took over the market of upper scale “fast food” or entry-level “fine dining”.

About “affordable”… that became so because the ingredients for American/Western sushi got standardized pretty fast. A fish considered of average quality (salmon) became its star, along with tuna (that got pricier as demand exploded). Some of the rarer fish imported from Japan in the early days of sushi outside Japan vanished quickly from menus as sushi left the West Coast (gone, or close, were katsuo, sayori, sawara, genuine tai.. enter escolar, albacore, and tilapia passed as something else, etc.)

Many ingredients got added, richer and sweeter and fatter - matching the tastes of Americans. The flavours also got bolder. Sauces used on street food in Japan, like Kewpie mayonnaise, okonomi sauce, eel sauce etc. became routinely used in sushi… and the ubiquitous avocado.

But above all, what made sushi really popular is that it got adapted (the Japanese are very good at that) and moved fast from Japanese traditions of nigirizushi to become centred on “fat rolls”, absent from sushi restaurants in Japan. And it started using the staple garnishes of Japanese fast food (like Osaka specialities like takoyaki, okonomiyaki etc.) By some miracle, that sushi still managed to retain a reputation for being very healthy(by the mid-90s it started being challenged…), when it’s in fact high in sugar and fat, and extremely caloric. But then, those factors that made it a kind of deluxe version of junk food also explain its success…

Japanese sushi, the restaurant type, the nigirizushi, are not nearly as popular as “Western sushi” still today. It definitely has its fans worldwide (and is certainly in a more gourmet and pricier range), but it’s “junk food” style sushi, at average price, that’s the really popular phenomenon.