Salmon Nigiri Set

History, tradition and origin

Sushi began as a way of preserving fish in fermented rice. In early nineteenth-century Edo, now Tokyo, cooks started pressing fresh fish onto vinegared rice and selling it from stalls as fast food. That hand-pressed style became the standard. Rolls made inside-out with avocado appeared later in North America and helped sushi spread worldwide.

Food economy and industry

Sushi depends on a fast cold chain that moves fish from boats and farms to markets within days, much of it by air. Training is long: apprentices traditionally spend years on rice before they handle fish. Rice, seaweed farming, wasabi and soy brewing are industries of their own, and conveyor-belt and supermarket sushi now sell far more than counters do.