Proper handling and consuming of sushi isnt about tradition, its about flavor.
Therefore, knowing what to do differently can alter your eating experience for the better.
Heres the items you’re able to expect to encounter.
via modernfarmer.com
Edamame
Just a name for immature soy beans, these are served as appetizers with salt.
You eat them by putting the pod into your mouth, then sliding the beans out onto your tongue.
Then you discard the shell.
A common rookie mistake is to have a go at eat the entire thing.
It can be extremely hot, so be careful when adding it to your sushi.
Gari
Grated, pickled ginger, this will also come on your plate alongside the wasabi.
It looks like a little fine salmon wafers in a delicate rose-petal design.
Sashimi
A bit of fish eaten alone.
Nigiri
Fish that has been packed atop a small serving of rice.
If you order a roll, it will be wrapped in nori.
Uramaki
This is the same as maki with a single major difference.
In uramaki the rice is placed on the outside of the seaweed roll.
Ordering
Ordering sushi in most contemporary sushi restaurants is the same as anywhere else.
You go in, sit down, and your server walks you through the process.
These are a whole other animal, though youre likely to only encounter themin Japan.
For now well be focusing on the less exclusive restaurants.
Many will have large photographs of each dish, so if youre confused, simply point.
Each bite is meant to have the proper balance of soy, wasabi, and sushi applied individually.
This is an insult to the chef and/or restaurant.
The point of doing this is to remove splinters from the sticks, which they almost never have.
To do this is to say Your utensils are cheap.
This is expected and gives you more control over how much soy sauce you apply.
The exception to this is that chopsticks are meant to pick up sashimi fish without rice and gari.
Anything else is finger food.
Wipe
Heres where you use your oshibori to clean your fingers.
Cleanse
Between bites, you want to cleanse your palate.
Thats what the ginger is for.
Repeat Until Done
Omedeto gaijin!
Youre now ready for the landsof animeand Hello Kitty.
