Sushi is Japan's most famous culinary representative, typically made with rice and fillings which have been rolled inside a sheet of dry seaweed. However, the term sushi is actually an umbrella term covering a wide range of subvarieties which can be made with a myriad of different ingredients and in as many forms and presentations.
Although the dish has become wrongly synonymous with raw fish, the primary ingredient of every type of sushi is only vinegared rice. Originally, sushi was only a method of preserving fish - first developed in Southeast Asia, but it reached Japan in the 8th century.
VARIATIONS OF Sushi
MOST ICONIC Sushi
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Narezushi is believed to be the earliest form of sushi that appeared in Japan. With a first written mention dating back to the 10th century Japan, it is thought that this combination of fish pickled with rice and salt appeared much earlier as a way to preserve fish.
Initially, only fish was consumed, and the rice was thrown away. Nowadays, the dish is prepared and sold as a whole fish that is covered in a milky white coating, and it is then carefully sliced and served on a bed of rice. The most popular narezushi is named funazushi, and it hails from Shiga Prefecture, where it is prepared with carp (nigorobuna) from Lake Biwa.
VARIATIONS OF Narezushi
MOST ICONIC Narezushi
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Funazushi is a type of narezushi that can easily be found in Shiga Prefecture in Japan. The dish is made with a kind of Japanese goldfish called nigorobuna, and it can only be found in Lake Biwa. The fish is preserved in salt, aged for a year, then compressed with steamed rice and fermented for up to four years.
The result is a product with a strong, tangy smell, similar to that of blue cheese, which is the reason why some people love this sushi variety, and some detest it.