Elaine Berkowitz
In fact, Jews have been compared
to fish. A Roman asked Rabbi Akiva why the Jews risked death by studying the
Torah when the Romans outlawed it. Rabbi Akiva answered with a parable: A fox,
seeing the fish in a stream scurrying here and there to avoid the fishermen’s
nets, beckoned them to come ashore. He had ulterior motives, of course. But the
fish were not taken in. They said, if we are at risk of death by the fisherman,
we will certainly die if we come ashore. And so it is with the Jews, who must
be immersed in the waters of Torah to survive.
Then there is the well-known story
of Yosef Mokir Shabbos, who, despite his poverty, always bought the best to
honor the Shabbos. An astrologer told a rich gentile in the neighborhood that
he would lose his fortune to Yosef. The rich man therefore sold all his
property and purchased one pearl, which he put on his hat. Unfortunately for
him, the wind came and blew off his hat, and a fish swallowed the precious
pearl. A fisherman then caught the fish and brought it to market. But who would
buy this big fish so close to Shabbos? They went to Yosef Mokir Shabbos. He
bought it and found the pearl. The moral of the story: Yosef was rewarded for
holding Shabbos so dear.
Stories aside, mostly what we do
with fish is eat it. Jews have been eating fish ever since the faithful wives
of bnei Yisrael scooped them up to
feed their downtrodden husbands in Egypt – and probably long before then. The
traditional choices have been gefilte fish, herring in wine or cream sauce, and
smoked white fish. Now, these delicacies have been supplemented with the
popular new herrings bathed in mustard, hot jalapeno, or hot and spicy sauces. But
the most recent fish dish – and the latest kosher cuisine growth category to hit
our community – is the sushi phenomenon.
Sushi Goes Heimish
I am not sure where the Jewish
connection comes from in our love affair with sushi. It is said that kosher sushi
came about when two Jewish entrepreneurs from Brooklyn decided to open an
eatery that had no kitchen. Today, catered kosher simchas feature full blown
sushi bars and massive sushi displays. In Baltimore, many of them are done by
Seven Seas, owned by Zvi Willner. Seven Seas also provides sushi to Seven Mile
Market and Maven Market. Several kosher restaurants in Baltimore have extensive
sushi menus: Accents, David Chu, Knish Shop, Dougie’s, Taam Thai, and some
pizza shops. One restaurant, Sushi Sukara, is devoted to sushi. Many of these
places feature authentic oriental chefs working the sushi bar in front of the
customer, rolling up rice, fish, vegetables, and seaweed to create their
elaborate concoctions.
Sushi is most popular among those
aged 25 to 34. Then comes the under-25 crowd, and finally, those aged 35 to 44. (That is not to discount those of us in the
senior category. We like sushi, too!) Like all new foods, a taste for it
must be acquired; people need to be educated on how to experience the succulent
flavors and aromas of unexplored taste adventures.
New foods and flavors come from many
different continents and countries as well as from religious, ethnic, and
family traditions. Using herbs and spices, cooking techniques, baking
procedures, and varied ingredients, a good cook can create an entire collage of
culinary art for hungry audiences eager to experience new taste sensations. In
addition to sushi, once unknown foods like hummus, Cajun blackened salmon, schug,
matbucha, kiwi, mangos, and guava have become mainstream foods found in kosher supermarkets.
But back to sushi, its incongruent
ingredients – unappetizing on their own – combine to make a delectable morsel. Kosher sushi is made with raw or cooked tuna or salmon and assorted
vegetables. It is seasoned with rice vinegar and wrapped in sticky white rice
and nori, a black seaweed. It is served with wasabi, a horseradish-like green
paste, soy sauce, and ginger to spice it up. In case you were wondering, sushi
is not low-cal. Six to nine pieces can come to over 550 calories, before dips
and condiments. The bracha for sushi,
according to Rav Moshe Heinemann, is mezonos
on the rice, then shehakol on the
fish, since both are considered primary ingredients.
You Mean Sushi Has a
History?
The origins of sushi are a mystery, and
scholars argue about whether the Chinese or Japanese invented it. Most likely,
the Chinese or Southeast Asians discovered that raw fish could be preserved in
fermented rice (a kind of pickling process), and the Japanese, in the ninth
century, were the first to eat the fermented rice together with the preserved
fish.
The original fermentation process took
at least six months, making sushi very expensive and only available to the
wealthy. But cooks in 15th century Japan found that adding more
weight to the rice and fish reduced the fermentation time to about one month. In
the 17th century, sushi makers in Japan’s new capital, Edo (later Tokyo),
compressed layers of cooked rice, seasoned with rice vinegar, and fish, which
reduced the prep time to just two hours.
Selling Sushi by
the Seashore
And finally, a Japanese entrepreneur, Hanaya
Yohei, opened a MacDonald-like fast food stall at a waterfront in Tokyo in 1824
using a modern “speed fermentation” process. He added rice vinegar and salt to
freshly cooked rice, let it sit for a few minutes, and then served it as a
small, compressed ball of rice with a thin slice of fresh-from-the-bay raw fish
on top. He is considered the creator of modern sushi.
One hundred years later, in the 1920s, Tokyo
had hundreds of outdoor sushi carts. After the great Kanto earthquake, the
sushi business moved indoors as real estate prices decreased and sushi vendors were
able to rent rooms from which to make and sell their sushi. By the 1970s, demand
for sushi exploded throughout Japan. Meanwhile, improved refrigeration enabled
fresh fish to be shipped all over the world, and sushi went international.
The first American sushi place was the Kawafuku
Restaurant in Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo. It was opened in 1966 by Noritoshi
Kanai and his Jewish (of course!) business partner, Harry Wolff. The sushi bar
was frequented by Japanese businessmen, who introduced it to their American
colleagues. In 1970, a sushi bar opened in Hollywood, catering to celebrities. Its
spread was then inevitable. Soon, several sushi bars were opened in New York
and Chicago, and the dish spread throughout the States. Today, 62% of Americans eat sushi, which is a $22 billion industry in
the US alone.
Sushi’s Jewish
Future
Each ethnic culture has its own rich
special dietary secrets just waiting to be discovered and unleashed on the
pallets of mankind. Out of woks, caldrons, tagines, wood-fired brick ovens, and
grills come mouth-watering meals, creating taste sensations and an ambience of
good feeling.
Sushi continues to evolve, with new
ingredients – such as cream cheese and spicy mayonnaise – and new preparation
and serving methods, such as deep-fried rolls and sushi salad. There are even
vegan versions, with only vegetables. Can we envision a future when sushi will
“fuse” with some old-time Jewish favorites? Will we be eating Shabbos meals
featuring sushi kugel or sushi cholent? Hard to believe, but it could happen!
A shanah
tovah to our readers, and may we all be at the “head and not the tail”!
