Japanese Sushi, sashimi; a feast for the eyes and body

Maria Endah Hulupi, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Because of their beautiful shapes and colorful presentation, some fans liken sushi and sashimi to Japanese culinary jewelry in a serving dish. But one thing for sure is that these raw and light dishes, whose popularity have spread to many countries, represent nature's flavorful freshness.

Both sushi and sashimi use raw fish as their main element but for sashimi, the fish is served chilled and sliced, while for sushi the raw fish is sliced and served with vinegared rice. Both are accompanied with wasabi paste (Japanese horseradish), gari (thinly sliced vinegared ginger) and shoyu (soy sauce).

In the modern era, the light natural taste of this traditional finger food is popular in many countries and enjoyed by fans from all walks of life but the use of the freshest ingredients once made it considered as food for Japan's upper crust community.

Today, mainly fresh raw fish is used to make sushi and sashimi. However, in its early history most of the ingredients were marinated first.

"The marinade was given to preserve the freshness of the ingredients. It was important because of the limited means of transportation in the past," said chef Yoshikatsu Miyazaki from Asuka Japanese restaurant at the JW Marriott hotel in Kuningan, East Jakarta.

According to www.eatsushi.com, sushi dates back 1300 years when Japanese acquired the pickling technique from Southeast Asia. Back then fish was packed with rice resulting in fermented fish, called nare-sushi. In around the 15th and 16th centuries, a more rapid fermentation process was introduced, leading to the creation of another ancient sushi, called nama-nare.

Both nare-sushi and nama-nare are said to be the foundation of the modern day sushi.

The use of vinegared rice (sushi rice) was first introduced in the 17th century by Matsumoto Yoshiichi of Edo (old Tokyo). But the tradition of serving raw fish to sushi rice was not introduced until the 19th century by Hanaya Yohei of Edo who in his sushi stall prepared sashimi (slices of fresh raw fish) and combined these raw slices with vinegared rice and served them for his customers.

His portable sushi stall, where fresh dishes were immediately prepared and directly served to customers, was considered as the predecessor to the modern day sushi bar.

The popularity of the dish soon spread to other countries, like Europe and the U.S., giving birth to new sushi varieties like California roll and New York roll.

However, Miyazaki said, unlike in its homeland where sushi is served in special sushi shops, in other countries sushi and sashimi are served along with other Japanese traditional dishes in Japanese restaurants.

Despite the emergence of an extensive new variety of sushi, the most common forms of sushi include nigiri sushi (hand shaped balls of sushi rice toped with a slice of raw fish), oshi sushi (sushi pressed in wooden box), maki sushi (rolled sushi), temaki (hand-rolled cones made from dried seaweed), nori maki (sushi rice and sliced seafood rolled in dried seaweed sheets) and chirashi sushi (scattered sushi, which is a bowl of vinegared rice with assorted sliced seafood items and mushroom spread on top of it).

Miyazaki explained that the best seafood for sushi was cold water species and in Japan the most popular items include hamachi (yellow tail), unagi (eel), ikura (salmon roe), uni (sea urchin roe), maguro (tuna), tako (octopus), akagai (ark shell) and mirugai (surf clam) among others.

"Sake (salmon) is among the most sought after item but it is not that popular in Japan and salmon is served for sushi only in the past decade," Miyazaki said.

To prepare sushi and sashimi, a sushi chef (itamae san) needs to master the skills of picking the freshest items, the cutting technique and the handling of ingredients as well as other preparation processes.

In the past, years of experience were needed to master those skills before a person could be called a sushi chef but now because of the growing popularity of the dish, a person can be trained to master the skills in a couple of years.

In Japan, both sushi and sashimi are commonly served not only for lunch and dinner but also for family gatherings and other special occasions. "The number of sushi and sashimi varieties served in every family depends on their financial ability," Miyazaki said.

And unlike in the past where mostly seasonal ingredients were used, people can now enjoy various kinds of fish to satisfy their cravings thanks to supplies from other countries. "Now, sushi and sashimi know no season because of the availability of fresh imported items," he explained.

Caption: Sushi2.jpg JP/Maria Endah Hulupi

Three popular versions of sushi, namely chirasi sushi (top left), temaki sushi (top right) and nigiri sushi (front). The roots of these light yet flavorful dishes can be traced back 1300 years. Its popularity had spread around the world and new varieties have been created.