All About Sushi

Raw fish, vinegar rice and crisp nori have inspired a new generation of sushi chefs in the Japanese tradition of preparing food to please all the senses.
While sushi can trace its origins thousands of years to early China, the first form of the sushi commonly eaten today emerged in the early 1800's, in Japan. As fresh fish became more readily available sushi gained popularity in Japan, and in time two distinct styles emerged.
In the Kansai region around Osaka, in the western part of Honshu, rice merchants served decorative 'packages' of seasoned rice combined with other ingredients. The conveniently packaged Kansai-style sushi dominated the early Japanese community in the United States. The picnic food style of this sushi is made predominantly with cooked ingredients and comes in various types and styles.
Seafood and fresh fish were more readily available on the eastern side of Honshu, in the Edo region surrounding Tokyo. In the Edo region, sushi was served as a slice of raw fish over a small ball of vinegar rice. In the 1960's, as more immigrants came to the United States from Tokyo, they also brought Edomae-sushi, the popular nigiri-zushi most familiar in sushi cuisine today.

Types of Kansai-style Sushi

Bara-zushi

Sushi rice and ingredients mixed together to make a rice salad.
Chakin-zushi
Sushi rice wrapped in a thin egg crepe to form a spherical shape.
Chirashi-zushi (Scattered Sushi)
A variety of sashimi, raw or cooked seafood is layered atop a bed of loosely packed sushi rice in a bowl.
Fukusa-zushi
Sushi rice wrapped in a thin egg crepe to form a rectangular shape.
Inari-zushi
Sushi rice is stuffed in deep-fried tofu pouches to form an oblong shape.
Oshi-zushi (Pressed sushi)
Kansai-style; sushi rice and other ingredients are pressed into a mold, usually square in shape.
Saiku-zushi
A variety of sushi prepared for special occasions, sushi ingredients are used to make decorative and colorful accents for the table.
Vegetarian maki
Rolled sushi that includes a variety of vegetarian ingredients.

Types of Kanto-style Sushi

Hako-zushi
Early 'box' shaped sushi popular in Edo.
Nare-zushi
Familiar in the Edo Period (1603-1868) and the precursor to nigiri-zushi, fish salt and rice are fermented for several months before serving.
Gunkan-maki (Gunkan or Funamori)
A type of sushi where a strip of nori is wrapped around a bar of rice. Fish eggs, such as sea urchin herring or salmon roe, are ladled on top of the rice.
Nigiri-zushi (Edomae-sushi)
A type of sushi consisting of a small ball of rice topped with various types of fresh raw seafood

Maki-zushi (Rolled Sushi)

This is the most popular and identifiable type of sushi throughout Japan and the United States. A layer of rice and a core of fillings are rolled with a layer of nori.
Traditional maki-sushi is rolled with nori on the exterior with sushi rice and the other ingredients in the interior of the roll:

Futo-maki (Thick-Rolled Sushi)
Hoso-maki (Thin-Rolled Sushi)
Ana-kyu-maki (Conger eel and cucumber roll)
Chutoro-maki (Marbled tuna roll)
Kaiware-maki (Daikon-sprout roll)
Kampyo-maki (Dried gourd)
Kappa-maki (Cucumber)
Natto-maki (Fermented soybean roll)
Negitoro-maki (Scallion and tuna roll)
Oshinko-maki (Pickled-daikon rolls)
Otoro-maki (Fatty tuna roll)
Tekka-maki (Tuna)
Tekkappa-maki (Selection of tuna and cucumber rolls)
Umejiso-maki (Japanese ume plum and perilla-leaf roll)

Temaki-zushi (Hand-Rolled Sushi) called "party sushi"; a cone shaped sushi held together with nori.
Maguro-temaki (Tuna temaki)

Other Sushi Terms

O-Nigiri - Stuffed balls of steamed rice.
Uramaki (Inside-out roll)
Created in America, this new variety of sushi is rolled backward. Unlike traditional maki rolls, nori and ingredients are placed in the interior of the roll and are surrounded by sushi rice. The best-known example of uramaki is the California roll

Uramaki - The History behind the the California Roll

Uramaki was created because Americans had trouble eating nori. While Americans dining in the early sushi bars enjoyed the food, they preferred to not see the seaweed. To remedy this, the pioneering Chef Mashita at Tokyo Kaikan in Little Tokyo created the inside-out roll. This development is widely believed to have fueled sushi's early success in the United States, and has led to hundreds of variations on the first uramaki.
Interestingly, the American-style uramaki sushi is beginning to find its way across the Atlantic to Japan. Bringing innovations in sushi-making back to the traditional styles in Japan is another step in the cuisine's evolution.