The dictionary definition is "A Japanese dish
consisting of thin slices of
fresh raw fish or seaweed wrapped around a cake of cooked rice"
Sushi took America over by storm during the 1970's, and now there are over 5,000 sushi restaurants in the US. One year, $36,000,000 of seaweed was sold to make sushi was sold, and there's an ever-growing shortage of sushi chefs! ( "Sushi savvy, unwrapping the mysteries of one of Japan's most popular culinary exports." Rhee, Walter, The Chicago Tribune. February 16, 2000 issue, section 2 (Tempo) p. 4 - 5.)
In the new Millennium Edition of Guiness World Records, there are two sushi records! The first was set in January 1992. A 715-lb blue fin tuna sold for $83,500 (almost $117 / lb) in Tokyo, Japan. The tuna was reduced to 2,400 servings of sushi for wealthy diners at $75 per serving. The estimated takings from this one fish were $180,000. That was the first record for "Most Expensive Fish". The second record is for the longest sushi roll. Six hundred members of the Nikopaka Festa Committee made a kappamaki (cucumber roll) that was 3,279 ft. long at Yoshii, Japan, on October 12, 1997.
Where is the best sushi in the world? Japan? Maybe, but during the last boom in the Japanese economy, many wealthy Japanese would fly to Los Angeles strictly for a sushi dinner. When Hideo Nomo, the Los Angeles Dodger pitcher at theh time was pitching, they might have taken in a game, too, but the feeling was that being closer to the source of some of the seafood used in making sushi, the quality, at least when made by Japanese chefs, was better.
If you're new to SUSHI, then the following links will help you better understand this addictive form of food. If you already love SUSHI as much as we do, then these links might just make you rush out to your favorite sushi bar!
