A few months ago I started a thread about food oddities you might have, such as if you need to eat one dish completely before you start on the next, or if you can’t stand to have different foods touching.
I forgot to list one of my own–I hate it when people eat sushi “wrong.” That is, they scrape little bits of wasabi onto the sushi. It’s wrong because that’s not how a Japanese waitress told me to do it.
But what if the waitress was herself wrong?
When it comes to combining the sushi with soy sauce, wasabi, and pickled ginger, is there a “right” way to do it? How do you do it?
Why would you care that people eat their sushi differently?
Food is there for enjoyment and sustenance. Why be so uptight about the right way to eat it? If other people want to cram it all into a bagel an scoff it, let them.
And you could do worse than stop caring that people may be watching you eat you sushi and commenting on your technique.
I think it’s “wrong” to combine the ginger with anything. You’re supposed to eat it after each bite, by itself, aren’t you? To cleanse the palate for the next flavor or something? I don’t eat the ginger anyway but I’ve been told that’s the “right” way.
I smush my wasabi right onto the maki. The appearance of wasabi mixed into the soy sauce disgusts me.
NEVER eat sushi with me, missbunny
I mix the wasabi into the soy sauce, but i also put a dab of it on whatever I’m having. Especially good that way with nigiri.
Upon reading the thread title, I flashed upon a paraphrase of my father’s instructions to me on how to parallel park while driving a van: Drive past the sushi restaurant until you are completely past it; then keep going until you get to a hamburger place.
I can live with other people mixing the wasabi right into their soy sauce, as long as they keep it on their side of the table. It’s the wasabi in my own soy that grosses me out.
In quantity! Really, eat sushi how you like. i personally hate wasabi and won’t touch the stuff. And I don’t want ginger either. Just soy sauce.
Ethilrist, you are seriously missing out. Just so you know, you don’t have to eat sushi with raw fish. Sashimi is raw fish, and not all the time. Sushi can be anything…you can have cucumber sushi! (my favorite!)
Note to self: Do not invite missbunny out for sushi.
Actually, I’m sitting here trying to remember how I apply wasabi to sushi. It’s just one of those things that’s so unconscious and automatic that it’s hard to reconstruct the exact details. (And I’m not a huge sushi eater, even.) As best I can remember, I get a bit of wasabi with the chopsticks (much easier to get the right amount that way) and transfer it to the sushi as I pick it up. Then, just dip a little corner in the soy sauce, and down the hatch.
Too much wasabi is one of the risks of sushi, although it wears off quickly. And if you do get too much, there’s one moment on the way up, and another on the way back down, when it’s perfect.
See, the
presence of these “food rules” is what keeps me nervous when I’m around people. There is no “right” way to eat anything. Maybe usual or normal ways, but no right way.
I’ve always wanted to try sushi with mayonnaise and hot sauce. Sounds good, don’t it?
I don’t know, I think food is also culture and ritual. I like knowing the “right” way even if I choose to disregard it.
I always mix my wasabi into my soy sauce, but would like to know the “correct” way of doing it. I always thought the ginger was for cleansing your palate between pieces.
I always mix wasabi and soy sauce. It’s hotter that way. If you put wasabi directly on sushi, it doesn’t burn as much, and what fun is that? Mmmmm, wasabi.
My cousin got married last month, and they had a tray of sushi at the reception. Small town, lots of people who don’t eat sushi on a regular basis, so some of them didn’t know what the wasabi was. I warned the woman sitting next to me that it was hot, she didn’t believe me, and she got a big surprise!
I was told by the waitress to mix the wasabi with the soy sauce in the little tiny plate they give you–that’s what it’s there for. I always used to get upset because if I got prepackaged sushi, because there was no little tiny plate, and I’d have to use a paper cup or my desk or the cat’s bowl or something. I also thought the ginger was to be draped over the sushi. I found the combination of tastes to be delightful but a bit overwhelming to whatever flavor sushi I was eating, so the subtleties of the more expensive rolls was lost.
My sushi books, and sushi chefs I’ve known, say the only real mistake we Merkins make is that many of us dip the rice into soy sauce. A big no-no, as “sushi” means “vinegared rice,” so dipping the rice into soy destroys the flavor of this special rice preparation. One should flip the nigiri over and dip the fish into the soy/wasabi. BTW, it’s perfectly fine to use your fingers while eating nigiri, which makes for a much easier flipping experience.
I was taught by a Japanese dining companion to dab the wasabi onto the piece of sushi, drape it with a slice of pickled ginger and dip it into soya. The part I can’t figure out is if it should be in one bite or two. I think she managed one, but I just can’t do it! But biting it in two, especially tuna, means intregal bits of it slide out and hang from my teeth in a most undignified manner.
Damn…now I want sushi…
Mmm sushi. I haven’t had sushi since November (I always eat it with my stepdad when we visit - The Highwayman and Cheez_Whia can’t abide the stuff).
Mmm wasabi drenched sushi.
Oh where was I? Yeah, I mix the wasabi into the soy sauce. Follow with ginger. Lather, rinse, repeat. Spend the next 8 months fantasizing about Japanese food.
