When was sushi introduced to america

At the turn of the 15th century, Japan found itself in the midst of a civil war. During this time, cooks found that adding more weight to the rice and fish reduced the fermentation time to about one month.

This new sushi preparation was called mama-nare zushi, or raw nare-zushi. Edo seemed to undergo an overnight transformation. With the help of the rising merchant class, the city quickly turned into a hub of Japanese nightlife. In Edo, sushi makers used a fermentation process developed in the mids, placing a layer of cooked rice seasoned with rice vinegar alongside a layer of fish. The layers were compressed in a small wooden box for two hours, then sliced into serving pieces.

In the s, a man named Hanaya Yohei found himself in Edo. Yohei is often considered the creator of modern nigiri sushi, or at the very least its first great marketer. In , Yohei opened the first sushi stall in the Ryogoku district of Edo. Yohei chose his location wisely, setting up his stall near one of the few bridges that crossed the Sumida. He then served the sushi in a hand-pressed fashion, topping a small ball of rice with a thin slice of raw fish, fresh from the bay.

Because the fish was so fresh, there was no need to ferment or preserve it. Sushi could be made in a matter of minutes, rather than in hours or days. Nigiri became the new standard in sushi preparation. By September of , hundreds of sushi carts or yatai could be found around Edo, now known as Tokyo. When the Great Kanto Earthquake struck Tokyo, land prices decreased significantly. This tragedy offered an opportunity for sushi vendors to buy rooms and move their carts indoors.

By the s, sushi was almost exclusively served indoors. He hoped to provide mainstream consumers with convenient access to sushi as he had in his native Japan. He founded Advanced Fresh Concepts in , which made possible the distribution of prepackaged sushi in local supermarkets in California. Advanced Fresh Concepts is one company that popularized sushi by establishing sushi bars at local supermarket chains.

The proliferation of its business across the nation, and the extension of its product line to include sushi-related items and sushi-making kits, reflected a movement to enhance the American palate and a Japanese contribution to the overall American experience through foodways. Skip to main content. Sushi Collection. By contrast, according to Bold Data, New York has sushi restaurants. The U. And Canada completes the top 3 with 2, sushi restaurants.

Wherever you hang your hat, find the nearest sushi spot and have a good lunch! Please follow and like us: Permalink. Get all new posts by email: Go. Hopefully, new ones—and more—will replace them as life heads back to pre-pandemic activity. Please follow and like us:.