All About Sushi

February 18, 2014 - Aaron Guerra, CEC, CDM, CFPP | Food of the Month: Sushi – Sushi is one of my favorite foods and one that eats as well in the winter as in the summer months. I often hear “…oh I don’t like raw fish so I don’t like sushi.” The truth is Su-Shi literally translates to “seasoned rice,” with su being seasoned and shi being the rice. The seasoning is sweetened and flavored rice wine vinegar. Many options do not even have any kind of fish in it or on it. Sashimi is actually the raw fish; what they term “sushi grade” which simply means so fresh its edible in a raw state. And sarhimi, is the “imitation fish/crab/lobster, which is actually pulverized white fish that is naturally colored and flavored with the animal it is imitating. The forms of sushi vary. The little lump of rice with fish, shrimp, avocado, etc placed on top is called Nigiri. The “roll”, whether the rice is inside or outside of the Nori (seaweed paper) is called maki. Maki literally means hand rolled, usually round but can be squared as well. Futo maki is a “fat roll” or a large maki roll. The bento boxes and plates that you can get that have many of the sushi ingredients laid out on them is called chirashi, which translates to “scattered” and is made so you can enjoy with whatever combination you would prefer. Wasabi is made from a rhizome similar to horseradish root, and actually much of the wasabi products offered out there are really just colored, dry and pulverized horseradish root. So, with this small introduction to Sushi, please experiment and remember it is not all about raw fish and there are some incredible options for many types of diners. Bon Appetite!