sushi etiquette
Do you eat sushi with any regularity?
I eat less of it in the wintertime. In the winter, I prefer more hot or warm foods.
When the weather warms up, I eat sushi more often.
-
While I do like mixing the wasabi with the shoyu, I have sometimes put the wasabi directly on the fish, at times. Usually when eating a sushi-to-go bento lunch.
-
Here's a recent Facebook posting thread:
*********************
Can Dace
Things I didn't know before about sushi etiquette.
(I've been guilty of making "soup.")
Wall Photos
Learn to eat sushi properly, just in case if a client loves fish :)
Photo from Swiss Miss
Enjoy and share!
by: Tofurious
Like · · Unfollow post · Share · 8 hours ago
Holly Smith likes this.
1 share
Bob Free I was born in Japan; I'm half Japanese, and have been eating Japanese food all my life - and have never encountered most of these "rules" of etiquette.
True about using the hashi-oki, using the back end of the hashi for shared dishes or serving someone else (although Japanese businessmen have informed me that only women do that), not rubbing your chopsticks (if you must, do it under the table inconspicuously), and not handing money to your sushi chef.
I would add: not putting sugar in your green tea, not sticking/stabbing your hashi into your rice as a place to rest them (I've seen Americans do both).
The rest are niceties/nuances - kind of like holding a wine glass by its stem - there's a functional reason for doing so, but it won't be considered rude if you do otherwise.
As for the wasabi - rather than mixing it thoroughly into your shoyu (soy sauce) so that it looks like a thin paste - I tend to put a small chunk in (without mixing), so that I can control exactly how much wasabi I want on a bite of sushi.
If you really want to be a connoisseur, eat sashimi rather than sushi - that eliminates the rice dipping and partial sushi-biting issues completely - and gives you a chance to taste the fish unadulterated.
6 hours ago · Like
Can Dace What about placing the sushi on your tongue so that the fish touches your tongue, first?
6 hours ago · Like
Bob Free Again, I see that as a nicety. The reason for it is to taste the fish first (back to what I was saying earlier about sashimi) - but from my perspective, you're the customer/consumer, and you should eat it the way your enjoy it, as long as it's not disruptive to other customers/guests.
As for not dipping the rice in shoyu - the issue is that rice is intended to be the canvas behind the art/paint - it's supposed to stay neutral to bring out the texture/flavors of the main element(s) of the meal; rice absorbs the shoyu, which will overpower the flavor of the fish. The fish is less absorbent than the rice, so it has less impact, I tend to dip the edge, so I get some on the fish and the rice - but that's me. I wouldn't worry about it.
On the other hand, you will rarely (never?) see a native Japanese pour plain shoyu onto a bowl of rice - that would be considered crude/uncultured (but not rude) by some.
There are some elite sushi masters that serve sushi as they intend it - meaning you eat it as is. If you were to dip it in shoyu or wasabi, it would be considered an affront to their preparation, and chances are they would cease to serve you for the remainder of the meal.
Assuming that you visit such a place with someone familiar with the restaurant/chef, they would normally warn you about this first. In such places, there would generally be no prices on the menus - or perhaps no menus at all, and the sushi master would just serve you what they felt you would enjoy. If you visit such a place, be prepared to pay through the nose. If you are invited by a Japanese host, they will likely pay for everything - you can make an honorary offer to pay a couple of times, but then graciously accept - they are doing you a great honor, and to insist on paying would be a loss of face. At least in the old days - I don't know what it's like in Japan these days.
I've only been to a couple of such places - and yes, it was very good.
I eat less of it in the wintertime. In the winter, I prefer more hot or warm foods.
When the weather warms up, I eat sushi more often.
-
While I do like mixing the wasabi with the shoyu, I have sometimes put the wasabi directly on the fish, at times. Usually when eating a sushi-to-go bento lunch.
-
Here's a recent Facebook posting thread:
*********************
Can Dace
Things I didn't know before about sushi etiquette.
(I've been guilty of making "soup.")
Wall Photos
Learn to eat sushi properly, just in case if a client loves fish :)
Photo from Swiss Miss
Enjoy and share!
by: Tofurious
Like · · Unfollow post · Share · 8 hours ago
Holly Smith likes this.
1 share
Bob Free I was born in Japan; I'm half Japanese, and have been eating Japanese food all my life - and have never encountered most of these "rules" of etiquette.
True about using the hashi-oki, using the back end of the hashi for shared dishes or serving someone else (although Japanese businessmen have informed me that only women do that), not rubbing your chopsticks (if you must, do it under the table inconspicuously), and not handing money to your sushi chef.
I would add: not putting sugar in your green tea, not sticking/stabbing your hashi into your rice as a place to rest them (I've seen Americans do both).
The rest are niceties/nuances - kind of like holding a wine glass by its stem - there's a functional reason for doing so, but it won't be considered rude if you do otherwise.
As for the wasabi - rather than mixing it thoroughly into your shoyu (soy sauce) so that it looks like a thin paste - I tend to put a small chunk in (without mixing), so that I can control exactly how much wasabi I want on a bite of sushi.
If you really want to be a connoisseur, eat sashimi rather than sushi - that eliminates the rice dipping and partial sushi-biting issues completely - and gives you a chance to taste the fish unadulterated.
6 hours ago · Like
Can Dace What about placing the sushi on your tongue so that the fish touches your tongue, first?
6 hours ago · Like
Bob Free Again, I see that as a nicety. The reason for it is to taste the fish first (back to what I was saying earlier about sashimi) - but from my perspective, you're the customer/consumer, and you should eat it the way your enjoy it, as long as it's not disruptive to other customers/guests.
As for not dipping the rice in shoyu - the issue is that rice is intended to be the canvas behind the art/paint - it's supposed to stay neutral to bring out the texture/flavors of the main element(s) of the meal; rice absorbs the shoyu, which will overpower the flavor of the fish. The fish is less absorbent than the rice, so it has less impact, I tend to dip the edge, so I get some on the fish and the rice - but that's me. I wouldn't worry about it.
On the other hand, you will rarely (never?) see a native Japanese pour plain shoyu onto a bowl of rice - that would be considered crude/uncultured (but not rude) by some.
There are some elite sushi masters that serve sushi as they intend it - meaning you eat it as is. If you were to dip it in shoyu or wasabi, it would be considered an affront to their preparation, and chances are they would cease to serve you for the remainder of the meal.
Assuming that you visit such a place with someone familiar with the restaurant/chef, they would normally warn you about this first. In such places, there would generally be no prices on the menus - or perhaps no menus at all, and the sushi master would just serve you what they felt you would enjoy. If you visit such a place, be prepared to pay through the nose. If you are invited by a Japanese host, they will likely pay for everything - you can make an honorary offer to pay a couple of times, but then graciously accept - they are doing you a great honor, and to insist on paying would be a loss of face. At least in the old days - I don't know what it's like in Japan these days.
I've only been to a couple of such places - and yes, it was very good.