เศรษฐศาสตร์ซูชิ

by Sasha Issenberg, อรนุช อนุศักดิ์เสถียร (translator)

The highly acclaimed exploration of sushi’s surprising history, global business, and international allure

One generation ago, sushi’s narrow reach ensured that sports fishermen who caught tuna in most of parts of the world sold the meat for pennies as cat food. Today, the fatty cuts of tuna known as toro are among the planet’s most coveted luxury foods, worth hundreds of dollars a pound and capable of losing value more quickly than any other product on earth. So how did one of the world’s most popular foods go from being practically unknown in the United States to being served in towns all across America, and in such a short span of time?

A riveting combination of culinary biography, behind-the- scenes restaurant detail, and a unique exploration of globalization’s dynamics, the book traces sushi’s journey from Japanese street snack to global delicacy. After traversing the pages of The Sushi Economy, you’ll never see the food on your plate—or the world around you—quite the same way again.

Genres: Food, Nonfiction, Japan, Economics, History, Business, Food and Drink

352 pages

First published January 1, 2007

About the author

Sasha Issenberg is the author of three previous books, on topics ranging from the global sushi business to medical tourism and the science of political campaigns. He covered the 2008 election as a national political reporter in the Washington bureau of The Boston Globe, the 2012 election for Slate, the 2016 election for Bloomberg Politics and Businessweek, and 2020 for The Recount. He is the Washington correspondent for Monocle, and has also written for New York magazine, The New York Times Magazine, and George, where he served as a contributing editor. He teaches in the political science department at UCLA.

Reviews

[Mark · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ain't it great that we can eat sushi in Omaha as if Omaha were on the sea? It's the miracle of globalization that makes it possible (or even desirable.) But it's not the same as eating sushi in LA or San Francisco or New York.

One difference is midwestern American technique employed in eating sushi. Step 1: Order lots of rolls, especially California rolls, spicy tuna rolls and salmon skin rolls. Maybe include a little bit of nigiri made with tuna or shrimp. Step 2: Once the fish arrives, dribble some soy sauce into the little saucer. Then add the green stuff. It's not wasabi, which is only grown in Japan and Oregon, and not widely even there. But no matter, horseradish tastes good, too. Mix the resulting concoction into a slurry. Step 3: Using chop sticks, clumsily pick up your piece of sushi (which refers also to the rice, by the way, not just the fish) and dip it (rice, not the fish) into the slurry. Leave half the rice in the little saucer. Step 4: Pop all, or, at your choice, only part, of the piece of sushi into your mouth. If you chose only part, have the remaining rice disintegrate into your plate, but slurp up the entire piece of fish. Step 5: Discover the pile of pickled ginger on the plate with the fish. For your next bite, use your chop sticks carefully to pick up a piece of ginger and drop it on top of a section of roll. Step 6: go to step 3.

I once sat next to some Japanese business guys at the bar in a sushi restaurant in Toronto. At least, I think they were Japanese, and so was the proprietor. They ordered omikase, which means chef's choice, more or less, and were presented with a few pieces of sushi every several minutes. They had soy sauce in a little dish in front of them, but didn't mix in any horseradish. They picked up the sushi with their fingers. To effect this, one puts one's forefinger on top of the fish, and one's thumb and middle finger along the opposing sides. With a graceful flip of their wrists, they turned the piece over, and dipped one edge of the fish, not the rice, into the soy sauce. Then they usually put all of the piece into their mouths. A couple of times I observed them taking a partial, but they bit hard with their front teeth to sever the fish. All very neat. Then they had a big slug of sake, and invited the chef to have a drink of sake, too. The chef had his own bottle behind the bar, but he charged the customers for every drink he took, and only took a drink if they invited him. Sometimes, between courses, the diners took a piece of ginger. On occasion the chef gave them rolls, but usually it looked to be pretty simple nigiri.

In Issenberg's book we learn that spicy tuna rolls were developed by American chefs "to unload odd scraps of fish past their prime, assuming that slathering them in mayonnaise and chile would help mask dubious taste and texture." He doesn't judge those of us who like such things. He's too good a journalist for that. The reporting here is done with minimal invasion of overt opinions. (Although he is pretty critical of a Spanish guy who tracks violations of the ICCAT fishing agreements, but maybe he deserves it.)

There's a lot to like here. Issenberg starts in the fish market in Tokyo, and quickly moves on to describe how tuna came to be transshipped to Japan from North America. He outlines the history or tuna farming in Australia and the Mediterranean. He fairly profiles Nobu of the eponymous, and seemingly more and more ubiquitous, upscale restaurants. (I wasn't impressed during my visit years ago to Nobu Next Door, but it's only the JV version.) He describes the boom and inevitable bust of the Northeast tuna fishery. He covers all these topics and more. (But not the part above about comparing how midwesterners and Japanese eat sushi. I made that up.)

And he implies but doesn't declaim, a dire prediction for fisheries everywhere: "Culturally, sushi denotes a certain type of material sophistication, a declaration that we are confidently rich enough not to be impressed by volume and refined enough to savor good things in small doses." So, if only one-tenth of China's anticipated middle-class population in 2020 develop a taste for raw fish, that's 50 million new sushi eaters. Where will all the fish come from, not just for China, but for Omaha, too?

It's a good read if you're interested in the subject.

[Dan McCarthy · Rating 3 out of 5]

A thorough look into globalization through the lense of tuna and sushi. Issenberg traces the cuisine's history from street food in an industrializing Japan to status symbol in famous restaurants around the globe as well as the evolution of the global tuna trade to meet the growing demand. It is a fascinating story of commoditification and global supply chains. Some chapters look into the expansion of tuna ranching, as well as the lucrative tuna poaching trade. If you're interested in that, then this book is a four star rating.

However, one thing that this book was lacking for me was a deep look into the immoral feeling I felt while reading. It took no time to really think about the unsustainability of flying tuna from the Atlantic ocean to Japan packaged in plastic and cardboard just for sashimi. The unsustainability of me being in rural Michigan and still have three sushi restaurants serving fresh tuna only 20 minutes away.

For me this book had the who, what, where, and when of global sushi, but not the why. For that I settled on 3 stars.

It made me want to go get sushi, but also made me really think if I really should.

[suwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

ได้ความรู้ใหม่ ๆ เกี่ยวกับวงการซูชิ (หรือจะบอกว่าทูน่าดี เพราะส่วนใหญ่เน้นมาที่ปลาทูน่าเป็นหลัก) ตั้งแต่ยุคก่อนบูมจนมาถึงปัจจุบัน การที่ส่วนตัวชอบครึ่งเล่มแรกมากกว่าครึ่งเล่มหลังมาก เห็นภาพตั้งแต่ปลาทูน่ายังไม่เป็นที่ต้องการ และทำราคาได้ไม่ค่อยดีทางฝั่งตะวันตก จนระบบโลจิสติกพัฒนาและนำมาขายในราคาที่สูงขึ้นในญี่ปุ่นได้

แต่ใด ๆ ก็คือรู้สึกว่าหนังสือยาวเกินไปสำหรับเนื้อหาที่ได้รับ

[Stephen Yoder · Rating 4 out of 5]

Darn fascinating. Japanese tastes for sushi changed during the post WWII occupation by the US military and the American custom of eating fatty cuts of beef. Fish buyers lose money three or four months of the year to keep their long term relationships with fish buyers alive. This book endlessly illuminates that food is culture. Really enjoyed it.

[Vincent · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has been getting a couple reviews from a variety of places (The Atlantic and Esquire, to name a few), so I was pretty excited when I finally got my hands on the book.

As a sushi lover and weekend economist, I was hoping I could bring both worlds together. Unfortunately, I was a bit underwhelmed; I expected more talk about globalization and less character profiles. I was looking for more analysis and insight into globalization and the economics of moving fresh sushi around the world.

While I've loved Mark Kurlansky's Cod-Biography of the Fish that Changed the World and there were a couple gems (always order sushi from the sushi bar), I felt that I was mislead by the title.

[Samuel Miller · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's cool reading a book about sushi from the perspective of its history and the fisherman, chefs, etc. involved in the industry.

This is largely a book about globalization through the lens of sushi (in particular tuna). Before reading it I didn't know much about tuna or how interconnected all these people around the world are to make it accessible and profitable.

Personally, I was hoping for a bit more details on the history of sushi in particular and maybe some concrete thesis, but I still enjoyed the various threads here.

[nimrodiel · Rating 3 out of 5]

The sushi book is divided into 4 parts. First is an exploration of sushi. How the first Atlantic bluefin tuna were shipped to Japan fresh, how sushi evolved from its fermented origins as a way to preserve rice to the popular forms it is enjoyed in now: futomaki, nigiri, sashimi, and the box sushi which is still a regional fermented delicacy. The second portion of the book looks at the expansion of sushi from a Japanese delicacy into the well loved globally enjoyed delicacy it is today. The book focuses on the introduction of sushi into Los Angeles, and the spread of sushi as a food for first the rich to becoming widely available across the US and into the rest of the world. The third portion of the book focuses on the fishing industry in different ports where tuna is a primary catch crop. How over fishing has decimated wild tuna populations, and how farming tuna has become a profitable option that still depends largely on wild fish. The book ends with a look at the future of sushi. How changes in tastes in other Asian powers such as China may change the purchasing pattern of tuna (both fresh and frozen, wild and farmed), the tuna pirating that is occurring in the Mediteranian, and the effects of trying to propigate tuna in farms rather than catching wild tuna and fattening them on fish farms.

I thought this was an interesting look at the complexities of the tuna fishing trade specifically, and how sushi has increased the demand for this fish worldwide. Since it was written using 2005 and 2006 statistics as the most recent I was left wanting to know more about how what I was reading about was currently in 2013.

[Sara · Rating 3 out of 5]

This probably would have been more successful if it had been called The Tuna Econonmy, but I still enjoyed it. The book focuses on fish markets, sushi's expanding popularity, the modern sushi chef, and the future of new Chinese markets and tuna ranching.

I eat sushi fairly regularly, and expect and enjoy fresh sashimi, but I never really realized how complex a process it is to get that fish to the restaurant. The fish could be from almost anywhere in the world. It's amazing how quickly it changed hands.

I also especially liked the section explaining how sushi became popular in the U.S. I was especially repulsed to learn that the California roll originally contained mayo. I find California rolls kind of gross anyway, and that mayo thing really cemented it for me.

This is definitely worth reading for those who have an interest in global food markets or sushi.

[Jonathan Gormley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that instructs you toward the best seat in a sushi restaurant, but it's about more than the meal. This is the investigation of how a regional cuisine became a global icon of luxury dining. To conquer all corners of the planet, fish had to be frozen and transported before they spoiled. It took decades of innovations in technology, transport, and transactions to enable. Sasha Issenberg traveled five continents to explain how Bluefin Tuna migrate in frozen form from Massachusetts to Tokyo, or how it is ranched in Australia, or even how it is pirated in the Mediterranean. Issenberg as always is expertly researched and depicts quirky characters to tell a story of how sushi explains the global economy.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thorough, entertaining and wide-reaching look at the history of sushi and it's modern day mechanics. Highlights include the sory of the Los Angeles sushi boom post World War II and the econocmis of tuna fishing worldwide. It's full of illuminating and quotable facts that I, of course, completely forgot already. But I strongly recommend this book to those with better memories and an interest in sushi.

I liked it so much that I considered trying to uncover an e-mail address for the author so I could send a note.

[Dietrich K · Rating 2 out of 5]

interesting read. fascinating tidbits on the tuna trade, its history and emergence in gastronomy, and its influence on the global economy. at times the book drags, but ultimately it rewards you with a new perspective on this fish.

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

Contrary to popular belief, sushi in its present form is a recent development that may be headed to a quick extinction. I count myself lucky to have lived during the time of sushi.

[Harry Harman]

more lucrative than he had initially anticipated.

“Prior to our study, we had thought the bluefin was found only in the middle of the ocean. But to our surprise, tuna is found swimming near the coastline, like the grey mullets and mackerel,” he recalled. “We heard many times that when you stand at the cliffs on the ocean in Canada, you will be quite amazed to see fish swimming in the near distance.”

He would have to discover a substitute for the chipped ice used to insulate fish at sea (it was heavy and prohibitively expensive to ship by air)

To replace the ice, Okazaki set up experiments to test urethane, a crystalline compound sprayed in foam form and allowed to shrink around an object.

The whole fish was blanketed in plastic wrap and then put into a vinyl bag, which was sprayed with a thin layer of urethane.

known as “meat burn”: prolonged exposure to oxygen en route gradually blanched the tuna’s red color.

refrigerated container (“ref-con,” in airline lingo)

It was also the beginning of the run-up to New Year’s, a weeks-long period of “forget-the-year” parties, as the Japanese call them, usually hosted in restaurants.

The tail meat is some of the least prized in a fish, but bidders examine it as an indicator of what’s inside—as close as one can get with most fresh tuna. In this case, often barely ten surface inches of the least valuable part of a fish is used as the primary indicator as one determines what to spend on hundreds of pounds of far more select meat.

When Tokugawa Ieyasu became shogun in 1603, he moved the center of power from Kyoto, which had been the center of Japanese life for eight centuries

They’re fishing out there with ocean liners!

The Japanese long-liners—so called because they dragged miles of line, draped at intervals with thousands of hooks, to be pulled in once fish took the bait—of the era ranged from 160 and 230 feet in length, able to hold between 320 and 550 tons. They had lines that extended over thirty miles, with as many as two thousand hooks dangling from each. Between 1961 and 1965, their scope expanded greatly; in that period, the Japanese longline bluefin catch tripled to thirty thousand fish annually.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tuna is big business in Japan. How big? In the first auction of 2013, one sold for $1.7 million. Yes, for a single fish.

The Sushi Economy is an incredibly readable look at the world's changing food cultures, supply chain, and interconnectedness. Issenberg is hot on the tail of sushi from the massive Tsukiji market in Tokyo to sushi restaurants from LA to the Bahamas, to the source of the tuna itself, in the waters off Prince Edward Island, Gibraltar, and Australia. Along the way, he meets and interviews everyone from fishermen to environmentalists to sushi chefs, giving a human face to every step of the process.

In many ways, The Sushi Economy reminded me of The Beekeeper's Lament, in that it takes its reader on a circuitous route to understand the ins and outs of a single product, as well as the perils of feeding a world that increasingly wants more of the "best things." In China alone, Issenberg predicts 50 million new sushi fiends by 2020, assuming only one-tenth of China's middle-class population develops a taste for the food.

[Hallie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A really interesting look into the rise and (near) current-day industry surrounding sushi. This book is really compehensive in that it takes care to cover an end-to-end view of the supply chain - more horizontally than vertically - and gives the reader a bit of exposure to it all, from fishing and ranching to shipping to restaurants. A bit on the history of sushi, as well. There is some coverage of vertical differences within the chain, but the focus is primarily horizontal.

Only reason I didn't rate this higher is that the chapters seemed a bit disjointed and don't flow as well as I would have hoped - I kept putting the book down. Also a bit dated at this point - would love to see an update to see whether practices and the economics have changed significantly in recent years.

[Suwipa · Rating 4 out of 5]

ฉบับแปลไทยมีคำผิดนิดหน่อย สำนวนแปลกลางๆ ไม่รู้ว่าต้นฉบับเขียนแนวไหน แต่อ่านแล้วได้เซนส์ของบทสารคดีมากกว่าหนังสือ

ประเด็นหลักเข้าใจว่าเน้นที่ผลของโลกาภิวัตน์ต่อรสนิยมของคนและการค้าขายปลาทูน่า เทคโนโลยีทั้งในด้านการขนส่ง สื่อ การประมง เป็นปัจจัยสำคัญต่อการขยายตัวของการทานซูชิ (ที่จริงโฟกัสอยู่ที่การเลี้ยงและเก็บทูน่า)

ส่วนที่น่าประทับใจคือบทสัมภาษณ์ตัวละครเด่นๆ ทั้งนักธุรกิจทูน่า เจ้าของร้านอาหาร ผู้เพาะเลี้ยงปลา เขียนออกมาดูเหมือนได้เข้าถึงคนเหล่านี้เป็นการส่วนตัวมาก ในพาร์ทของการอธิบายขยายความอาจจะติดที่การแปลทำให้บางช่วงเข้าใจยากไปนิด

คิดว่าเอาไปทำเป็นสารคดีสักหกตอนสั้นๆ น่าจะสนุก อ่านติดๆ กันงงตัวละคร งงสถานที่

[William Yip · Rating 4 out of 5]

There were sentences that were missing words and superfluous details like which celebrities ate sushi at some restaurant owned by some chef. Some of the described activities are very dull such as the auctions. The title was a little misleading as the book was more about fish, particularly tuna, in general though some chapters were dedicated to sushi. That said, it was interesting to read how tuna and sushi went from unwanted or unknown commodities to very popular and expensive globally-desired items and how people are dealing with fish population collapses through illegal shipping and through tuna ranching and cultivation.

[Ad · Rating 4 out of 5]

A journalistic book about sushi and globalization. The book takes the form of a global travelogue ranging from Atlantic bluefin tuna fishermen in Massachusetts, to Japan's Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo (now Toyosu). Issenberg also follows the history and rise of sushi in the USA, the complex economics of the tuna trade, and an attempt in Australia to farm tuna instead of just catching them (also in Japan itself aquaculture is important). He also uncovers the underworld of tuna pirates in the Mediterranean. In short, a book showing the global impact of Japan's iconic food, sushi, in all its various ways. After reading it, you will view your plate of sushi with different eyes.

[Joe Voltz · Rating 4 out of 5]

Takes you through the sushi production chain, step by step. A bit thick for anyone outside of business (not for foodies) unless you like or eat sushi on a regular basis, of course! Rather, it has you think more about what it takes for your California roll to appear with regularity in your supermarket cold case. Some things have changed since then - the legendary Tsukiji fish market that features prominently in the book has since closed its doors. Still, valuable as a layman's history of a cultural export now used as a yardstick to measure modern taste.

[Kristina Harper · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, crap. I was just about finished with my review of this examination of the sushi industry and how big tuna came to be available just about anywhere in the world when there was a Goodreads server glitch and I lost what I had written. I don’t have it in me to try to recreate any of that, so I’ll just say this: The Sushi Economy is fascinating, and once you’ve read it, you’ll never again look at that beautiful maguro your sushi chef just placed in front of you without thinking about how complicated the process was to get it to your plate.

[Mike Cheng · Rating 3 out of 5]

Well written book about how sushi became mainstream, including the role of Japan Airlines (JAL) in figuring out how to solve the "one way problem" - namely by finding freight in the form of frozen tuna to fill the empty planes on their flights back to Japan. Other cool topics include a detailed account of a typical morning at Tsukiji, the evolution of tuna fishing / farming and the effect on various local economies, and the meteoric rise of restaurateur Nobu Matsuhisa.

[Jonathan · Rating 3 out of 5]

worth a read into a very thin slice of the adaptability of food and food business. Each chapter takes a look at a different lens of the sushi industry. It drags about 2/3 through with the more modern stories being a little too focused on specific entrepreneurs and not industry waves. Appreciated how tech at the time drove the modernization of the industry (refrigerated airplanes, dynamic fish market pricing, importing scales/fees/fraud)

[Ari · Rating 4 out of 5]

The first few chapters were outstanding and packed full of information about the culture and history surrounding sushi. I also appreciated the chapters reviewing Nobu and Uchi. The chapters on tuna farming and the ICCAT debacle were tougher to stay interested in. I first heard about this book on NPR, and I recommend reading “the story of sushi” along with it.

[Eliel Lopez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Insightful story of the tuna industry. I liked this writer's style of prose with the exception of the profanity encountered in some of the pages. Thus one star deduction in my review as well as no spot earned on my book shelf.

[Shawna Burch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty good! I actually read this book in University for a course on Economic Geography. Super interesting take on globalization and the supply/demand chain.

[Alexander Ose · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of interesting little tidbits about the early days of the global economy. I particularly liked the history of how tuna originally made it into JAL cargo holds.

[Stasya · Rating 3 out of 5]

Про развитие логистики, шеф-поваров и Австралию было интересно.
Местами слишком много подробностей, от которых просто устаешь :\\\

[Elizabeth Coble · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting chapter on Tyson Cole and Uchi.

[Reza Zin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Reads like a very long magazine article. Informative, if a little out-of-date, and mildly entertaining.

[Liam · Rating 3 out of 5]

What do PEI, Tokyo and Ensenada have in common?