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The Connoisseur's Guide to Sushi: Everything You Need to Know About Sushi Varieties And Accompaniments, Etiquette And Dining Tips And More
Like sushi? Know a little something about it? Take your knowledge to a higher level with The Connoisseur's Guide to Sushi. Author and Japanese-culture expert Dave Lowry provides a wealth of information on the varieties of sushi and its ingredients, with extensive coverage given to all types of fish. He lays out the finer points of etiquette and showcases the proper accompaniments. Lowry's wry, light wit emerges as he shares lots of cultural and historical facts about sushi. He'll tell you just how to go about finding a really good sushi restaurant. With this book in hand, you'll be sure to enhance your sushi dining experience, and wow your friends with your new-found expertise!
297 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
August 22, 2018
It's so boring! Needs photos- found myself googling. It wasn't helpful.
January 17, 2024
While entertaining, Lowry uses indexes and chapter headings that make the book appear (on Amazon at least...) to be a usable reference text. It is not.
October 25, 2014
The Connoisseur's Guide to Sushi, by Dave Lowry, is an in-depth description of all sorts of things connected to sushi; the types of sushi, toppings, condiments, how to eat it, how it is made, and so forth. While the book is detailed and written by an (apparent) expert it is not, unfortunately, a good read.
Lowry insists on cramming the book with irrelevant anecdotes, jokes, and witticisms; it takes a real comic master to be consistently funny in a book that's meant to be humorous. Few of his stories and wise-cracks are funny, but even if they were, in a book intended to be informative the sheer deluge of them is strange and distracting. His favorite joke, suggesting ways the reader can be a "sushi snob" to impress the sushi chef and lord it over the less-informed, is repeated practically every other page. It's a shallow joke, and after the 10th or 20th time it is extremely tiresome.
Lowry's prose isn't very good either, he packs his stories with unnecessary verbiage, but his descriptions are usually unclear. The decision to print this book without illustrations is just baffling, even if the descriptions were good, surely the average reader would like to get a look at the places, fish and sushi being described.
The big advantage of the book is just how amazingly knowledgeable Lowry is, allowing him to pack the guide with loads of facts and trivia. This is not without its drawbacks, as sometimes it becomes too much. The section on tableware and utensils is pretty long and dull. And also there are some glaring mistakes. He says that Akita and Yamagata are the northernmost prefectures in Japan; they're not, Aomori is northernmost. He says that when two people are in harmony the Japanese term is ki ga awanakatta; actually ki ga au is the correct term, ki ga awanakatta means NOT in harmony. These are small details, but I don't think I'm being pedantic. If I found these mistakes in a novel I would just roll my eyes and continue. This is an informative guide and the writer is supposed to be an expert, but he makes mistakes that anyone from Japan and many foreigners with experience in Japan would not. It makes me worry what else he got wrong, or if I can even trust this book at all.
This book suffers from a lack of editing, a tightness that would make it really coherent and easily usable. It's also a shame that it is completely without photos or illustrations. I would love to read it if revamped, but for now I definitely do not recommend reading it.
Lowry insists on cramming the book with irrelevant anecdotes, jokes, and witticisms; it takes a real comic master to be consistently funny in a book that's meant to be humorous. Few of his stories and wise-cracks are funny, but even if they were, in a book intended to be informative the sheer deluge of them is strange and distracting. His favorite joke, suggesting ways the reader can be a "sushi snob" to impress the sushi chef and lord it over the less-informed, is repeated practically every other page. It's a shallow joke, and after the 10th or 20th time it is extremely tiresome.
Lowry's prose isn't very good either, he packs his stories with unnecessary verbiage, but his descriptions are usually unclear. The decision to print this book without illustrations is just baffling, even if the descriptions were good, surely the average reader would like to get a look at the places, fish and sushi being described.
The big advantage of the book is just how amazingly knowledgeable Lowry is, allowing him to pack the guide with loads of facts and trivia. This is not without its drawbacks, as sometimes it becomes too much. The section on tableware and utensils is pretty long and dull. And also there are some glaring mistakes. He says that Akita and Yamagata are the northernmost prefectures in Japan; they're not, Aomori is northernmost. He says that when two people are in harmony the Japanese term is ki ga awanakatta; actually ki ga au is the correct term, ki ga awanakatta means NOT in harmony. These are small details, but I don't think I'm being pedantic. If I found these mistakes in a novel I would just roll my eyes and continue. This is an informative guide and the writer is supposed to be an expert, but he makes mistakes that anyone from Japan and many foreigners with experience in Japan would not. It makes me worry what else he got wrong, or if I can even trust this book at all.
This book suffers from a lack of editing, a tightness that would make it really coherent and easily usable. It's also a shame that it is completely without photos or illustrations. I would love to read it if revamped, but for now I definitely do not recommend reading it.
May 28, 2012
I picked this book up from the library so that Wayne and I could learn a thing of two before we tried making sushi. This book is FULL of information and would be great for anyone who needs to know more than I needed to know. It talks in depths about the different varieties of sushi. I am particularily interested in Chirashi sushi (scattered sushi)....all the flavor with no work! It also has a very informative section on all of the "toppings" that are used in different types of sushi.
This book IS NOT a sushi cookbook. It did nothing for me in terms of learning techniques. I really was just looking for a book that shows me how to try my hand at rolling basic maki rolls.
I also have to say that all of the etiquette and rules about eating sushi drives me a bit nuts. It's food, we just want to eat it and enjoy it. I can understand that if you were in a very chic Japanese sushi establishment, one might consider Japanese etiquette. However, when I learn how to make sushi, I am just going to chow down.
Great for sushi snobs.
This book IS NOT a sushi cookbook. It did nothing for me in terms of learning techniques. I really was just looking for a book that shows me how to try my hand at rolling basic maki rolls.
I also have to say that all of the etiquette and rules about eating sushi drives me a bit nuts. It's food, we just want to eat it and enjoy it. I can understand that if you were in a very chic Japanese sushi establishment, one might consider Japanese etiquette. However, when I learn how to make sushi, I am just going to chow down.
Great for sushi snobs.
February 22, 2010
Everything you ever wanted to know about sushi, and then some. This guy's depth of knowledge is amazing. Even though he is a westerner, he has been deeply immersed in living and studying Japanese arts and culture since the 1960's or so. Even though I love sushi, and appreciate it enought to know that the stuff they have at Trader Joe's is not really up to par, I was blown away by Lowry's explanation of all of the nuances of determining a species of tuna, or which ocean it came from, or some such, just by taste. It's actually way more information than just about anyone would need to know, but I am just as fascinated by the author's fascination as by the information itself. It is worth reading this book just for the description of Tokyo's Tsukiji market, which is the main fish distribution point in Japan. My only complaint is that there are no pictures. There are plenty of sushi books with pretty pictures, though, and this one tops all of them for depth of information.
October 17, 2007
The most informative sushi book I've ever seen. Just ignore the narrator's attitude.
February 17, 2013
best book on Sushi I've ever read
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews