EMAIL THREAD

what is so great about sushi?

Raw fish. I don't get it. is it a status thing?

Thu. May 10, 1:06pm

I like the sushi without the raw fish - california rolls? - and I don't think it's a status thing at all. I get a mini tray of it for $4.59 at the supermarket. Delicious - - that's why I eat it!

Thursday, May 10, 2007, 1:25 PM

first of all, sushi does not translate to or mean "raw fish". and sushi as a menu item can contain fish or no fish. there are many cooked fish sushi rolls, too! the health benefits are awesome (nutrient dense, high protein, low fat). give it a try before sticking out your tongue to it! you may find that you really enjoy it!

Thursday, May 10, 2007, 1:36 PM

i love it for a quick meal on the go or a nice dinner... so healthy and tasty too!

Thursday, May 10, 2007, 1:40 PM

by opening your question with "what's so great about..." you seem to be implying that people who enjoy sushi think it's "so great". i happen to like sushi, for the variety of foods and flavors available, the value, and the nutritional benefits. status has nothing to do with it. in turn, do people who frequent fast-food establishments do so because of "a status thing"? i think it's mostly a choice based upon what a person likes and that maybe others attribute the choice as some sort of statement.

Thursday, May 10, 2007, 1:41 PM

I think it started out as one of those "Look at me, I'm so cosmopolitan that raw fish doesn't gross me out" things. However, it now has a widespread reputation in this country for being a healthy, on-the-go choice since you can pretty much pick up a little tray at many delis and supermarkets now.

Thursday, May 10, 2007, 1:43 PM

Mmmm, maguro!

The texture and subtle flavor of fresh raw salmon or tuna can be wonderful. Paired with perfectly prepared rice at the right temperature and some quality soy sauce, it's a real treat for the palate.

Sure, some people can't get over the idea of eating raw fish and will never get past that mental barrier, no big deal. I recently went to a great sushi place with a dozen co-workers. Half complained that they didn't like sushi (all of whom had never actually tried to eat it, incidentally) while the other half of us loved our meal. Whatever. I could eat a mountain of raw tuna but the smell of canned tuna makes me throw up. Not everyone digs the same thing.

I wouldn't say it's a status item for me. I love my sushi even if I'm getting take-out and enjoying it alone at home in my PJs.

Thursday, May 10, 2007, 1:46 PM

It tastes good!

If it tastes fishy, then you are eating bad sushi. I recently took my cousin out for sushi, and she had never had it, and didn't want to try it, and discovered that she really liked it!

Try going to a sushi bar where the dishes go by you on a conveyor belt, that way you can look at it before you try it.

Thursday, May 10, 2007, 1:54 PM

and i don't get how anyone can suck the meat off of a rib or leg bone!! to each his or her own! but, don't knock it 'til you try it! you may be limiting yourself out of fear, but you're still limiting yourself! in countries besides the USA, there are mnay food choices that the average american may not give a second thought to trying. but how gross can something be if it is enjoyed by millions of people worldwide? give it a try and get back to us for your review...that'll be interesting!

Thursday, May 10, 2007, 2:03 PM

Sushi isn't always raw - there are plenty of rolls with yummy tempura (fried and battered) things like shrimp or vegetables. Also the American classic (and the item I always recommend to newbies to sushi) is the California roll which has imitation crab meat, cucumber and avocado in it.

It also is very healthy and tastes good! Give it a try!

The status thing - I think it used to be but it's so mainstream and everywhere I don't think it can be seen as that anymore. I buy my sushi at the grocery store!

Thursday, May 10, 2007, 2:29 PM

i just can't do the imitation crab stick. they make the california rolls with real crab claw meat where i go for sushi. unbeatable! (and NOT raw!) i don't dress up enough for it to be a status thing.

Thursday, May 10, 2007, 2:31 PM

For 2:03

Grilled pigs uterus (thought I was ordering pork, in Japan) = hard to get my teeth into, then couldn't get my teeth out of. No flavor, pure rubber, blech.

Boiled baby bull testicles (Sicily, didn't know what I was ordering) = discovered why they're called "sweetmeats". Unfortunately they looked exactly like what they were, didn't help that they were filled with a creamy pignoli nut sauce. I ate 2 out of 4.

Deep fried locusts (Thai delicacy) = I lost a bet. Too drunk to remember anything but the crunch followed by the ooze.

Sushi (Japan) = did okay until the sea urchin, at which point I puked all over my boss's wife's shoes.

Haggis (Scotland) = it grew on me

Hatching duck (not sure what it's really called, Phillippines) = they've got this delicacy that I SWEAR is a duck or chick that's killed during birth. It's an egg with the legs sticking out. I'm a total carnivor, but that's just sick. I never ate it, but my mother raves about it.

Alpaca steaks (Peru) = not bad, tasted like a combination of pork and beef. I passed on the guinea pig casserole though.

Cheap ice cream (U.K.) = beware, if it doesn't say "dairy", there's a good chance it's made from rendered PIG FAT.

Rabbit stew (Belgium) = yum!

Thursday, May 10, 2007, 2:38 PM

Sushi is delicious! I crave it when I have not had it in while.

Thursday, May 10, 2007, 5:27 PM

Sushi is no more or less stange than any western foods we just happen to be more firmilar with our foods so they don't seem weird.

Good sushi is some of the most delicious foods in the world. Flavors perfectly balanced, clean and nutritious. If only more places made sushi with brown rice I would eat it every day.

Thursday, May 10, 2007, 5:36 PM

Question for the OP- Have you actually tried sushi? If you haven't, no wonder you don't get it.

Sushi is yet another in a long line of things that shouldn't taste good but do. Much like hot dogs, the sum is greater than the whole of it's parts. The delicate flavor combinations of raw fish, seaweed, ginger, veggies and rice are incredible. I mean, Nori (the seaweed that's used to hold things together) on it's own tastes awful, raw cucumber is bland, rice isn't exactly exciting, but put them all together with a slice of really good raw tuna and you have got a taste treat.

Or, just be a tool and bag on something you haven't tried.

One other suggestion- if you are going to try sushi for the first time, go all-in and go to a really good sushi bar. sit at the counter and ask the chef to teach you about sushi. Expect to pay a lot. Expect to be wowed.

DO NOT let your first experience with sushi be grocery store sushi, which is ok in a pinch, but really, not all that good.

Thursday, May 10, 2007, 5:40 PM

haha - another good? thing about sushi...

courtesy of Scrubs tonight....

Elliot, "Here's my wedding dress and I'm totally going to fit into it in two months thanks to the parasite from eating raw sushi"

Thursday, May 10, 2007, 9:35 PM

2:38, you sure are an adventuress! I could never do most of what you did without being very very drunk. I love sushi, both non-raw fish and raw fish/ sashimi. If there are people out there who don't like it, then that leaves more for us. It just tastes so good!

Thursday, May 10, 2007, 10:13 PM

Sushi is my absolute favorite. Try it and come back to us.

Friday, May 11, 2007, 11:31 AM

haha- 9:35! i saw that last night and laughed so hard especially when this thread crossed my mind right after elliot said that!

Friday, May 11, 2007, 11:59 AM

going out for sushi tonight... to celebrate my b-day. love it, but didn't until I gave it a chance. start out with rolls that have cooked fish and try one new thing every time you go. I now appreciate raw fish and absolutely love tuna that way.

Friday, May 11, 2007, 4:28 PM

Fresh clean taste. And a light meal.

Friday, May 11, 2007, 8:16 PM

I have sushi way too much, 3 or 4 times a week. I love it but it was an acquired taste.

Monday, May 14, 2007, 8:38 PM

I believe sushi actually is referring to the flavored rice rather than the fish, which is why there are sushi rolls made with veggies....

Good sushi should NEVER taste "fishy" (as in stinky fishy)... at most, it should be a MILD sea/ocean taste If it's really strongly fishy, then it is probably not very fresh.

To the poster of the list of "weird things" to eat....I commend you on your bravery. Although unless there is a nuclear holocaust, I do not think I could ever bring myself to eat a bug....(it comes from my mom's complete and utterly freakish fear of germs and bugs.)

Funny thing-- different cultures are accustomed to different "weird" foods....

For example, on Fear Factor, they show people grossing out on eating "thousand year old eggs"... (the eggs are black with a green yolk due to a chemical preservation process.) However, that's considered a delicacy in Chinese cultures.... I would much rather eat a few of those preserved eggs vs. any kind of live (or dead) bug...It's only because my family has eaten it since I was a kid....

I've had haggis once (not sure if it was truly authentic) at a friend's Scottish "autumnal equinox" party). It was actually not that bad... Of course, in Asian cuisines, hog maw or beef tripe is also considered a delicacy, so I was not as weirded out by the stomach... (you just have to not think about how the haggis is cooked.)

I do agree that sea urchin is kind of a weird type of sushi--for me, it's more the texture than the taste--I will eat it, but no longer order it because It's a bit too slimy for my palate.

Monday, May 14, 2007, 10:20 PM

Urchin

Urchin is called Uni Nigiri, or just plain Uni for short. If your Uni was slimy, then it was not prepared correctly. Uni should have the texture of a fine pate with a very rich and creamy taste. Uni is actually the animal's gonads which produce the milt and roe. Sea urchins are hermaphrodites. So to all you who thought you weren't so daring...hehe

Satyrical

Monday, May 14, 2007, 11:04 PM

Adventurous eater from above here...

So it's not bad enough that I've eaten Italian bull testicles and "lips and arseholes" (the quick Scottish summary of the contents of haggis) - I've also eaten the GONADS of a sexually confused sea critter?? Suddenly the frozen monkey brains from Indiana Jones #2 don't sound so bad.

You'd never guess I'm squeamish about eating lychees because they look like eyeballs...

Monday, May 14, 2007, 11:13 PM

To clarify things a little...

The main element in any sushi dish, whether it contains cooked or raw fish, horsemeat, hotdogs or whatever is the rice. The rice, which is sticky, has been seasoned with rice wine vinegar. The vinegar realeases starches in the rice, this is what makes it sticky. Raw fish or seafood alone is not sushi, it is sashimi.

Eat what you like,just know how to eat it. So many people are weirded out by this "exotic" thing or that. The reality is we (people in whole) usually contradict our own beliefs. We say things like, "eww, I could never eat a bug!", when in reality we do eat bugs each and everytime we eat shrimp, lobster, crab and all those other lovely sea crustaceans with exo-skeletons. Because they don't come from the part of our world where we would consider them to be a nuisance...a bug, we categorize them as something generic like sea food.

Food for thought, thoughts for food...

Satyrical

Monday, May 14, 2007, 11:58 PM

As many have said here, the fish in sushi does not have to be raw, and there doesn't even have to be fish in it. I will admit that I was interested in eating sushi because it was trendy but I would never like something just because its trendy! Its delicious and thats why it has gotten so popular. You can get all kinds of sushi - I personally love a spicy tuna roll, very simple and really yummy! I'm not sure about how healthy it is but I know that a lot of sushi is good for you. And while it may not seem like it, its really filling so its a good choice for eating out because you feel satisfied without gorging yourself on a bread basket or a humongous entree.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007, 10:56 PM

my favorite thing about going to get sushi is the edemame! what a great appetizer

Thursday, May 17, 2007, 9:42 AM

Seaweed salad is also very good! I like the miso soup as well. (although it's high in Sodium and natural MSG content)

Thursday, May 17, 2007, 11:47 PM

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