# How should one eat sushi? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 13, 2005, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118 "2005-06-13T18:33:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/41 "2005-06-14T04:10:23Z")
My usual method is to put wasabi on the soy sauce dish, but not mix it up with soy sauce too much. That way you can control the soy-sauce/wasabi ratio depending on where you dip. The only “wrong” way to eat sushi, IMO, is to put so much soy sauce and/or wasabi that you can’t taste the fish. What’s the point of buying sushi if you aren’t going to taste it? It’s just a waste of money, not to mention an insult to the chef. I googled for some “how to eat sushi” sites in Japanese, and they all stress you shouldn’t dip the rice into the soy sauce. For a nigiri, tip it over so it’s laying on its side, then grab it with chopstics and dip the fish (or the tip of it) in the soy sauce. For roe, apparently the fancy way is to pick up the tiny piece of cucumber (if there’s one), dip it in soy sauce and put it back on the sushi. If there is no cucumber, use the ginger or your chopstick to to drip a few drops of soy sauce onto the sushi. I admit I’ve never done this. ---
**Author:** ![Apricot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bcef8e/32.png) [@Apricot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apricot)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/42 "2005-06-14T05:00:42Z")
I don’t eat any soy sauce on my sashimi or sushi. I usually get it very little wasabi on it. If it’s pre-made, I usually take off a little wasabi to thin it out. I get a lot of crap for it from other people - but I really like the flavor of the ingredients plain. Is there some kind of rule requiring the use of condiments? From the amount of flack I get, it seems like my companions think so. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/43 "2005-06-14T05:17:53Z")
> [@Soul Brother Number Two](#): > > 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. Almost right- the real reason is that when you dip the rice, it flakes off into your wasabi/soy mix, thus is messy. Also, you get “too much” soy that way, as **scr4** mentioned. Personally, I like “too much” soy. ---
**Author:** ![RealTronic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9dc877/32.png) [@RealTronic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealTronic)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 6:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/44 "2005-06-14T06:05:19Z")
Well, not too much to add to this thread by now since most good pointers and “rules” have been mentioned. - Always dip the sushi in soy sauce with the raw fish facing down, then quickly shove the whole thing into your mouth in one bite. Yes, ONE bite - that is pretty much what everyone does here. I myself have started doing too, if the fish is not cut into too big pieces. Dipping the rice part in soy will make it fall apart and you will have a big soup of rice and soy after a while. - Apply wasabi onto the sushi, not into the soy sauce. Personally I like to mix some into the soy, but I’m a foreigner here so I’m allowed to be unorthodox. Most people apply it on the sushi directly. Of course, in 95% of all sushi rolls there is already, as someone else mentioned, wasabi applied - so adding extra is for those who that extra “rush” up their nose… - The ginger, according to my girl, acts as both a palate cleanser and a bacteria-killing ingridient to better digest the raw fish. Also, to a lesser extent, the wasabi does this too. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 6:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/45 "2005-06-14T06:36:17Z")
Well, as an inhabitant of Japan, I can say with some certainty that the proper way to eat sushi is…cooked. Few here agree with that statement however. Of course they all eat dried sardines (eyes even!) for a snack, so there you go. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 8:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/46 "2005-06-14T08:35:59Z")
Ok, so maybe I am exaggerating a little, but the last time I had Sushi for two the bill was close to $70.00 after tip. That was quite a while ago and it is the only exclusively sushi restaurant out here in BFE. Adjusting for inflation and location, I thought it might be more on the coasts and in the cities? Oh well, I guess I’ll just have to stick with [URL=http://www.asiazine.com/eat/eat01041.htm]White Trash Sushi ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 8:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/47 "2005-06-14T08:37:02Z")
Fixed Coding: [White Trash Sushi](http://www.asiazine.com/eat/eat01041.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Girl\_From\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3da27b/32.png) [@Girl\_From\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Girl_From_Mars)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 9:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/48 "2005-06-14T09:43:19Z")
> [@ShibbOleth](#): > > I find these just about everywhere. Where is “here” to you? London at the moment, haven’t seen them in supermarkets here, but haven’t tried around China Town yet, where they might be more common. ---
**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/49 "2005-06-14T13:04:51Z")
Last night I got a veggie roll and tried it without any soy whatsoever, and at the ginger on its own. You guys are right–so much better that way! In my early days of eating sushi I tok my then girlfriend out for some. She’d never had it before. I made a rather strong solution of soya/wasabi. I instructed her to dip her food _lightly_ in the solution, as it was really hot. She just gave me a sneer of disbelief and set her maki slice fully in the solution, and let it sit there so it could soak up all of the “gravy.” (This was not a terribly sophisticated woman.) She let it sit there for a good 5 minutes. Then she popped it in her mouth, which was not big enough to hold it all. The look onm her face–man, I wish I’d had a camera! The first time my current girlfriend had sushi, she was delighted that there was a little dab of guacamole on the plate. She didn’t want to deprive everyone else of some, so she only ate half of it. At once. By itself. The first time I went to a pho restaurant I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t really want soup, but it was the only thing on the menu. Not having a clue as to how to eat it, I did as I saw others doing. I put ketchup in it. Lots and lots of ketchup. That was 10 years ago. I’m still in pain. ---
**Author:** ![js\_africanus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/87869e/32.png) [@js\_africanus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/js_africanus)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/50 "2005-06-14T13:18:41Z")
Put on a hook, use it to catch a better tasting fish. ---
**Author:** ![Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/6f9a4e/32.png) [@Hey\_It\_s\_That\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hey_It_s_That_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/51 "2005-06-14T13:24:36Z")
> [@Girl From Mars](#): > > They sell wasabi peas in Japan and NZ (haven’t seen them here) - freeze-dried peas coated with wasabi, eat them like you would peanuts. But every so often you get a really hot one! > > When you do this, you must first make ‘the face’, take 5 seconds to start breathing again, and then resume eating. Mmmm masochistic yummy goodness. I love wasabi peas. They are the perfect salty, crunchy snack to have with a few beers on a Friday afternoon. I got a huge metal canister of them at the Super Target for $4 and change, but they might be cheaper or have different varieties at an Asian grocery store. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Stilettos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/fbc32d/32.png) [@Red\_Stilettos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Stilettos)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/52 "2005-06-14T15:02:42Z")
When I first had sushi, I was taught to mix the wasabi into the soy sauce, dip (no direction given) and eat in one bite. Granted, I was taught by an American trying to impress a date (not me), so it’s not the best source. After trial and error for a few years, I now put the wasabi on the sushi, dip fish-side down and very lightly and try to eat it in one bite. I rarely eat the ginger. My question is about the eating in one bite bit. It seems like many, if not most, of the sushi places around here make there slices way too big to eat in one bite. It’s not a huge problem for sashimi, but for sushi rolls you lose the flavor mix if you take multiple bites. Plus, it falls apart. I’m thinking this a typical American “make it bigger” phenomenon. But if it’s not, how are you supposed to politely deal with such a huge bite? ---
**Author:** ![Wile\_E](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c37758/32.png) [@Wile\_E](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wile_E)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/53 "2005-06-14T15:14:53Z")
:rolleyes: At all the people making the overused comments about how they don’t eat/like sushi. Why post in a thread asking about how to eat it then? I mix the soy and wasabi. I don’t eat the ginger at all as it tastes like soap to me. I cannot eat most larger rolls and nigiri in one bite as I have too small a mouth and TMJ syndrome which makes chewing with a full mouth difficult so if a chef is going to get offended because I can’t eat it that way then I guess I will have to avoid those restaurants. ---
**Author:** ![Ponder\_Stibbons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponder_stibbons/32/343_2.png) [@Ponder\_Stibbons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponder_Stibbons)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/54 "2005-06-14T15:54:51Z")
> [@Red Stilettos](#): > > My question is about the eating in one bite bit. It seems like many, if not most, of the sushi places around here make there slices way too big to eat in one bite. It’s not a huge problem for sashimi, but for sushi rolls you lose the flavor mix if you take multiple bites. Plus, it falls apart. I’m thinking this a typical American “make it bigger” phenomenon. But if it’s not, how are you supposed to politely deal with such a huge bite? That is a very good question. I inevitably end up doing a “two-bite”, with the second bite being somewhat, er, messy. I don’t like doing the “big bite” as gulping down sushi seems just so wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/55 "2005-06-14T16:06:57Z")
> [@Apricot](#): > > I get a lot of crap for it from other people - but I really like the flavor of the ingredients plain. Is there some kind of rule requiring the use of condiments? From the amount of flack I get, it seems like my companions think so. Yes. The Sushi Patrol will swear out a warrant for your arrest and boil you alive in molten wax, then place your preserved corpse on display _pour encourager les autres_. > [@devilsknew](#): > > [White Trash Sushi](http://www.asiazine.com/eat/eat01041.htm) Band name. (Somebody was going to say it.) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/56 "2005-06-14T17:29:10Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > So…I’m the only one who saw the thead title and said “well-done?” 😃 I was thinking “battered and deep fried”. Seriously, I ate a lot of sushi before it dawned on me. . .this stuff isn’t BAD, but it’s pretty bland and I can pay the same amount of money for a big piece of fish creatively prepared by a professional chef. Since that realization, I’ve never eaten another piece of it. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/57 "2005-06-14T18:17:49Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > . .this stuff isn’t BAD, but it’s pretty bland and I can pay the same amount of money for a big piece of fish creatively prepared by a professional chef. Huh? Sushi _is_ a big piece of fish creatively prepared by a professional chef. Well, each piece is small but it adds up. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/58 "2005-06-14T18:49:22Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Huh? Sushi _is_ a big piece of fish creatively prepared by a professional chef. Well, each piece is small but it adds up. OK, sashimi. But come on. . .raw fish sliced and dropped on top of a ball of rice wrapped up in a small peice of seaweed? Raw fish plain? There’s not a thing in a sushi restaurant that wouldn’t be better with salt and pepper and thrown on a grill. I know there’s “sushi” that’s not just raw fish, but that’s what we’re talking about here. I’ve eaten it in LA and NY too, though mostly in Baltimore. Some of these highly trained sushi chefs? 95% of the stuff I’ve seen in a sushi restaurant you be trained to make in about 2 hours. Look at something like [this](http://www.mikadorestaurant.com/images/sushi_board1_lg.jpg). An impressive display of sushi by anyone’s standards? What do you have? A few slices of raw tuna and raw salmon by themselves? A few more of them draped on rice, and a couple pieces of white fish? Then, a few vegetables and maybe an egg wrapped in seaweed and sticky rice with a bamboo mat and then sliced into 1 inch thick chunks? Fish eggs packed into a seaweed roll? Yeah, pretty impressive the first two times you set foot in a sushi place. Pretty boring after that. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/59 "2005-06-14T20:32:25Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > Yeah, pretty impressive the first two times you set foot in a sushi place. Pretty boring after that. It’s all in the nuance. Sushi is a bit like wine or coffee. Some people care about subtle gradiations of flavor … some don’t. And a lot depends on what you order. I find that yellowtail tastes pretty much the same everywhere – that’s one of the reasons I don’t order it. But mackeral varies widely, depending on its freshness, how its sliced, what’s added to it, how the rice is seasoned. But I’ve never had a piece of cooked fish that could compare to the sublime flavor of really well-prepared sushi. ---
**Author:** ![Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/soul_brother_number_two/32/3515_2.png) [@Soul\_Brother\_Number\_Two](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soul_Brother_Number_Two)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2005, 8:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118/60 "2005-06-14T20:39:46Z")
Agreed. I have trouble eating cooked fish now because I prefer the flavor when it’s raw. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-should-one-eat-sushi/308118.md?page=4)