Sushi

Sushi (すし, 寿司, 鮨, 鮓; pronounced [sɯɕiꜜ] or [sɯꜜɕi] ^ⓘ) is a traditional Japanese dish made with vinegared rice (鮨飯, sushi-meshi), typically seasoned with sugar and salt, and combined with a variety of ingredients (ねた, neta), such as seafood, vegetables, or meat; raw seafood is the most common, although some may be cooked. While sushi has numerous styles and presentations, the current defining component is the vinegared rice, also known as shari (しゃり), or sumeshi (酢飯).

The modern form of sushi is believed to have been created by Hanaya Yohei, who invented nigiri-zushi, the most commonly recognized type today, in which seafood is placed on hand-pressed, vinegared rice. This innovation occurred around 1824 in the Edo period (1603–1867). It was the fast food of the chōnin class in the Edo period.

Sushi is traditionally made with medium-grain white rice, although it can also be prepared with brown rice or short-grain rice. It is commonly prepared with seafood, such as squid, eel, yellowtail, salmon, tuna, or imitation crab meat (surimi). Certain types of sushi are vegetarian. It is often served with pickled ginger (gari), wasabi, and soy sauce. Daikon radish or pickled daikon (takuan) are popular garnishes for the dish.

Sushi is sometimes confused with sashimi, a dish that consists of thinly sliced raw fish or occasionally meat, without sushi rice.

A dish known as narezushi (馴れ寿司, 熟寿司), "matured fish", stored in fermented rice for possibly months at a time, has been cited as one of the early influences for the Japanese practice of applying rice on raw fish. The fish was fermented with rice vinegar, salt, and rice, after which the rice was discarded. Narezushi is also called honnare, meaning "fully fermented", as opposed to namanare, meaning "partially fermented", a type of sushi that appeared in the Muromachi period.

Fermented fish using rice, such as narezushi, originated in Southeast Asia, where it was made to preserve freshwater fish, possibly in the Mekong River basin, which is now Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, and Vietnam, and in the Irrawaddy River basin, which is now Myanmar. The first mention of a narezushi-like food is in a Chinese dictionary thought to be from the fourth century, in this instance referring to salted fish that had been placed in cooked or steamed rice, which caused it to undergo a fermentation process via lactic acid. Fermentation methods following similar logic in other Asian rice cultures include burong isda, balao-balao, and tinapayan of the Philippines; pekasam of Indonesia and Malaysia; padaek (ປາແດກ) of Laos; pla ra (ปลาร้า) of Thailand; sikhae (식해) of Korea; and Mắm bò hóc or cá chua of Vietnam.^{[excessive citations]}

The lacto-fermentation of the rice prevents the fish from spoiling. When wet-field rice cultivation was introduced during the Yayoi period, lakes and rivers would flood during the rainy season and fish would get caught in the rice paddy fields. Pickling was a way to preserve the excess fish and guarantee food for the following months, and narezushi became an important source of protein for Japanese consumers. The term sushi literally means "sour-tasting", as the overall dish has a sour and umami or savory taste. The term comes from an antiquated し shi terminal-form conjugation, no longer used in other contexts, of the adjectival verb sui (酸い, "to be sour"), resulting in the term sushi (酸し). Narezushi still exists as a regional specialty, notably as funa-zushi from Shiga Prefecture.

In the Yōrō Code (養老律令, Yōrō-ritsuryō) of 718, the characters for "鮨" and "鮓" are written as a tribute to the Japanese imperial court, and although there are various theories as to what exactly this food was, it is possible that it referred to narezushi.