Oishii: The History of Sushi

by Eric C. Rath

Sushi and sashimi are by now a global sensation and have become perhaps the best known of Japanese foods—but they are also the most widely misunderstood. The History of Sushi reveals that sushi began as a fermented food with a sour taste, used as a means to preserve fish. This book, the first history of sushi in English, traces sushi’s development from China to Japan and then internationally, and from street food to high-class cuisine. Included are two dozen historical and original recipes that show the diversity of sushi and how to prepare it. Written by an expert on Japanese food history, Oishii is a must read for understanding sushi’s past, its variety and sustainability, and how it became one of the world’s greatest anonymous cuisines.

Genres: Food, Japan, Nonfiction, History, Food History, Cookbooks

224 pages, Hardcover

Published May 26, 2021

Reviews

[John · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was great. I love food history. I was browsing around a bookstore in Montreal, and I wanted something different and interesting - not just some random novel, you know - and this jumped out at me. My 7 year old son has, over the past year, decided that he loves sushi, which was kind of unexpected but has turned out to be awesome, because it means that I get to eat it more. So I was really fascinated by this centuries-long history. This particular book is also great because it includes lots of mouth-watering sushi photography, sushi art, and sushi recipes.
I had no idea that there was this super long history of, essentially, pickling or fermenting fish in salt and rice to preserve it, and that these sorts of techniques are what evolved slowly into the sushi that we know and love today. Makes sense though. This is why food history is so interesting to me - human beings are universally so devoted to experimenting and improvising with food. Every culture does this. The world of sushi has just been extra focused in the last few decades on innovation. That's another good thing about Rath's book - he makes clear that there isn't really a RIGHT way to do sushi, or a perfect, "original" sushi that has been corrupted by California Rolls and such. It's just people experimenting and coming up with delicious stuff that all kinda lives in the world of sushi. So yummy. I want more now, for lunch.

[Holly Cruise]

A moderately slim book, which probably could have been slimmer, about the history of sushi. In the acknowledgements the author says this span out from another book on a range of foods because he wrote a longer piece than could fit in that book. This makes sense, this is a bit padded out but is definitely too long to be a section in another book.

It's fairly interesting. The author definitely has a deep knowledge of the topic, and the later chapters covering c20th history and the environmental impacts of fish consumption are thoughtful and informative.

The beginning of the book is somewhat repetitive. I've seen this before in History books where the source materials for some sections are thin which leads the writers to try and pad them out to avoid unbalancing the book. It didn't work in this case, which made earlier chapters a bit of a slog to get through although there was some interesting information in there.

The pictures were well chosen throughout, if a little hunger-inducing.

Overall, made me want some (ethically sourced) sushi and to protect the environment.

[Kelli · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really liked learning about the evolution of sushi, especially post-WWII to today!

[Phil · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strong start but ultimately not much content - could probably be better as a long read blog

[Heather · Rating 4 out of 5]

WAY more interesting than expected. An excellent little book.

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book left me with a greater respect for both sushi and food historians. So cool!