October 2014 Tokyo, Japan
Besides clothes bargain hunting, food is another major desire I would like to fulfill on my Tokyo trip. Though I have tried different kinds of sushi already in Taipei, San Francisco, Vancouver and Helsinki, still, sitting and ordering at the genuine Japanese sushi express restaurant is one of my very personal tasks I would like to conquer. Near Shinbashi Station, I spot this ‘Ichiban’ (thumb-up) sushi express run by several elderly masters; therefore, I communicate with them in still-the-beginner-level Japanese, successfully order 7 plates of fresh seafood nigiri/maki sushi for my late dinner!
he original type of sushi, known today as narezushi(馴れ寿司/熟寿司), was first developed in Southeast Asia and spread to south China before 8 th century. The earliest reference to sushi in Japan appeared in 718 from <Yōrō Code> (養老律令,Yōrō ritsuryō).The Japanese name ‘sushi’ was written with kanji (Chinese characters)雑鮨五斗(五斗,wu-do, is approximately about 64 liters); by the 9th and 10th century,鮨and鮓were read as ‘sushi’ as similar to narezushi nowadays.
The first use of鮨appeared in the oldest Chinese dictionary around the BCD 3rd century.鮨is explained as literally ‘Those made with (salt and minced)fish’, while those made with meat called醢. In 2nd century AD, Han dynasty of China, another character 鮓was written for sushi: ‘鮓滓也,以塩米醸之加葅,熟而食之也’,translated as ‘鮓滓is a cusine which fish is pickled by rice and salt, eaten when it is ready’. This meal is believed to be similar to Japanese Narezushi.
In British etymology, sushi first collected In 1873 Japanese-English dictionary, by James Cuties Hepburn, also in a journal article on Japanese cookery in 1879 Notes and Queries. The Oxford English Dictionary notes the earliest mention of sushi in Alice Bacon’s Japanese Interiors, that “Domestics served us with tea and sushi or rice sandwiches”(Bacon 1893, p.180).
My favourite sushi style is nigiri sushi (握り寿司), it was introduced in the 19 th century Tokyo. At a rather anonymous restaurant, we order a mixed sushi vessel to share, and I also take tofu salad as fresh appetizer. On visual enjoyment, the sushi are placing alluringly on the platform, white rice, orange shrimp, black nori, while wasabi sauce is decorated as green edelweiss. For tasting pleasure, the smoked salmon with sour mayonnaise sushi melts like the fine butter on the tongue tip almost immediately, yet the sweet stays in mouth for more few seconds. About health benefits, since seafood is the natural source to gain omega-3, and ginger slices with wasabi are not only full of vitamin C, but also a good way to cleanse the germs of stomach,もちろんです, sushi is definitely the smart choice for lovely summer after-party.
The last 2 days of exhibition, after working hours, my Japanese friends from Tokyo and Yokohama guide me to those local-recommended yakitori, where some dishes of the day can only be ordered directly from the chef. Especially an anonymous yakitori locates under Shinbashi Station, old, micro and noisy, but it provides the most yummy pork stew and grilled chicken butts I have ever tried. Japanese hot sake and Kirin Ichiban beer are also my favourite. Arigato, my dear Japanese friends, your warmest greetings and great sense of humour complete my cultural mission during this 2014 Tokyo trip!
Special Thanks: Family Okazaki & Producer Kitamura
Works Cited:
Bacon, Alice Mabel. A Japanese Interior. Boston:Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1893.
Hepburn, James Curtis. Japanese-English and English-Japanese dictionary. London: Randolph, 1873. p.262.
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