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This blog will be all about Japanese cuisine, Japanese restaurants, cultural facts about Japanese eateries, some do's and don't's when eating in Japan, and many other interesting things. Today we'll be talking about one of Japan's most well known and Westernised cuisine's, SUSHI!

When you mention Japanese food to someone, most people would think of sushi. Sushi is probably one of Japan's most popular dishes, and has also become very prevalent in Western culture. Most of the sushi rolls you can buy in the Western world would not be found in Japan, due to the fact that people have created many flavours to appeal to Western people. This was initially fuelled by the invention of the California roll. A wide variety of popular rolls have evolved since. 

Sushi consists of a three main ingredients, and is served with a variety of different condiments. These three ingredients are:

• Shari - this is a preparation of white, short-grained, Japanese rice mixed with a dressing consisting of rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and occasionally sake. It has to be cooled to room temperature before being used for a filling in a sushi or else it will get too sticky while being seasoned. 
• Nori - the black seaweed wrappers used in sushi are called nori. Nori is a type of algae, traditionally cultivated in the harbours of Japan. Originally, algae was scrapped from dock pilings, rolled out into thin, edible sheets, and dried in the sun, in a process similar to making rice paper. Today, the commercial product is farmed, processed, toasted, packaged, and sold in standard-size sheets about 18 by 21 centimetres. 
• Neta - these are the various fillings used in sushi. The most commonly used fish are tuna, Japanese amberjack, yellowtail, snapper, mackerel, and salmon. Other seafoods that are used in sushi include squid, eel, octopus, shrimp, clam, fish roe, prawn and crab. Pickled daikon radish, pickled vegetables, fermented soybeans (nattō), avocado, cucumber, asparagus, and sweet corn are also used in sushi. Tofu and eggs (in the form of slightly sweet, layered omelette called tamagoyaki) are also common.

Sushi is commonly eaten with condiments. Soy sauce is the most widely used of these. True wasabi has anti-microbial properties and may reduce the risk of food poisoning. An imitation wasabi is more prevalent these days, which is made from horseradish, mustard power and green dye. Gari (sweet, pickled ginger) is eaten with sushi to both cleanse the palate and aid in digestion. 

I hope this has given you a little more of an insight into sushi, and tune in next time for more fun facts about Japanese culture and cuisine.

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