So I don't know about you but (before coming to Japan) I used to be a huge sushi snob.
I believed I knew everything I needed to know about sushi. I would eat it a lot with my friends. And even knew this small shop ran by a Japanese family in my city. I thought I knew all the rules and was totally prepared to come to Japan and show off how much this 愛人 (non-Japanese person) knew.
But then I discovered I didn't know the number one sushi rule! I will share this with you in a moment, first lets go over the other rules. These are the big ones that you can see all over Pinterest and on blog posts by Japan or sushi lovers.
1. NEVER dip your rice in the soy sauce. The rice is delicate and by dipping it into the soy sauce you risk the rice breaking apart and ruining the originally whole piece of sushi you once had.) So basically you should only dip the fish into the sauce.
2. Never add wasabi to your soy sauce. We're not animals here (I actually read this once claiming that doing this was barbaric).
3. Never bite or cut you sushi in half... You should eat the sushi in one bite. That's right, ONE!
Then you might see other small rules here and there about sushi but these are the three big ones I always saw/see.
Now here is the one big rule, In fact, the biggest rule
Are you read?!
No one cares. ... "what?" You may be asking what I mean after telling you about these three huge and commonly publicized rules. But after living in Japan for over a year now and living in a huge fishing hub of Japan, I learned that I was a huge moron before coming to Japan. Now yes, Sometimes you may go to a really fancy place where you will have to follow very specific rules but the chef will be right there telling you what to and not to do (trust me I got instruction ed yelled at me for 30 min. at this kind of restaurant).
No one really follows these kinds of rules anymore especially as sushi has become more mainstream. Some times I go to the fish market for lunch or dinner (literally a fish market where you buy freshly caught fish but they will also sell freshly made sushi and soups) and you get pieces of fish the are as long as your hand! Impossible to eat in one bite. My Japanese co-worker always adds (a lot of) wasabi to her soy sauce.
Don't worry about these rules as long as you are not rude, loud, or messy no one cares. So go out with your bad self and enjoy some sushi!
Comments