Jay McInerney from the New York Times has reviewed two recently published books on sushi. You can find the review of the article here. The two books are: Trevor Corson's "The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket" and Sasha Issenberg's "The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy."
Recently, the power-that-be in the sushidom of Japan started wanting to police the existence of the internationally-known delicacy. They felt the need to maintain a certain standard of the practice by issuing certificates or stamps of approvals to vendors around the world. They found it disturbing that sushi had been bastardized by the existence of such invention of the California rolls and the spicy this-and-that rolls (yeah, and you may not want to ask real sushi chefs in the most revered sushi bars and restaurants in Tokyo about such rolls either unless you are ready to be met with swords flying from their eyes).
What I did not know was that California roll, for instance, was born out of necessity (and necessity, as you know, is the mother of invention). In the mid-60s, a Los Angeles Japanese restaurant Tokyo Kaikan's sushi chef Mashita Ichiro used avocado as a substitute for fresh fatty tuna belly (toro) because such item was hard (or none) to come by; and thus was born the California roll. In the words of Edie Beale, "I don't know whether you know that; I mean, dya know that?"
Find the article here.
(Original illustration for the New York Times by Nick Dewar)
