Sushi Glossary

Fast Food That Takes Years of Training

Soy sauce, raw fish, seaweed, and rice balls. It may not sound very exciting delicious. Yet it is almost addictive. Sushi is not just fast food for stressed city dwellers, it is also gourmet food for connoisseurs. But did you know that sushi is not the raw fish.

Bringing a sushi box home for dinner is a given for many, even in our country. Equally obvious is being offered sushi and sashimi in various variations, which are part of the countless small dishes served during a Japanese feast.

However, sushi is not, as many believe, the raw fish. It is the vinegar-flavored rice. The slice of fish is an extra energy bonus. Sushi in its original form, called funa-sushi, resembles our surströmming and was originally a way to preserve the fish.

This traditional dish has been eaten in Japan for more than 1300 years. Sushi, as we are used to eating it, began to be sold as fast food as early as the 19th century in street stalls in Edo, now Tokyo. In the original sushi recipes, a dish with a fish preservation method resembling surströmming was made. The fish was filled with steamed rice and left under pressure to create a vacuum. The fish could lie for three months up to 5 years. In the late 1940s, sushi bars started to outcompete street stalls. In Europe, sushi had its breakthrough in the 1890s. Sweden got its first Japanese restaurant in 1973 in Stockholm at the Seikoen pub. A few years after the opening, they also started serving sushi.

In Japan, it traditionally takes ten years to become a really good sushi chef. It is not until you have spent many years as an apprentice that you are allowed to start working on the cutting board yourself. Just learning to rinse and cook the rice can take up to a couple of years. Nowadays, you can, however, learn at a somewhat shorter time at the Tokyo Sushi Academy. They accept students from all over the world. In 2007, the Sushi Tokyo Academy toured Europe to spread knowledge on how to best prepare this Japanese national symbol. Sushi master Ken Kawasumi and his assistant Toru Nishida visited Yasuragi Hasseludden where all the chefs received a briefing on how to make sushi according to all the rules of the Japanese way.

Do not be deterred from making your own sushi and why not with Swedish ingredients. The book "Sushi på svenska" (Prisma förlag) gives you a good instruction on how to prepare different types of sushi using fish from our Swedish waters.
And do not miss the chance to try sushi with us at the spa hotel Yasuragi. Read more about our restaurants.

Sushi Glossary

Sushi - The vinegar-flavored rice, not the raw fish as many believe.

Wasabi - An herb that grows wild or is cultivated and is more closely related to Brussels sprouts and broccoli than horseradish. The real gourmet wasabi is grown in constantly flowing water.

Uramaki - Nori on the inside and rice on the outside. Sometimes called inside out.

Hosomaki - The opposite of uramaki with nori on the outside and rice on the inside.

Chirashi-zushi - The rice is at the bottom with fish slices and shrimp layered on top. Suitable as a lunch box.

Nigiri - Bow-shaped bite of rice with a freshly cut slice of fish on top.

Kaitenband - The typical revolving sushi belt where the chef stands behind and prepares the delicious pieces.

Omakase - An exclusive sushi meal where the chef decides what will be served.