Sushi For Beginners
If you roll with me, you have to like sushi (pun absolutely intended, as always).
Any time someone asks me, “Hey, what kind of food are you in the mood for?” The answer is always the same… sushi.
“Where do you want to go eat?” Echi Sushi. It doesn’t change.
As if the tagline of my blog doesn’t spell it out, I love sushi (brown rice, of course).
Why do I love sushi so much? Because it’s healthy and fun. It’s one of the only meals you can order that is completely “clean” at a restaurant, without going the boring oil-free lean protein and steamed veggies route.
Salmon avocado with brown rice is just about the most pure, god-sent meal I can think of.
You’ve got your lean protein, your healthy fat and your complex carbs.
It’s so perfect, it’s mind boggling.
Throw in your edamame appetizer (120 calories for a half cup shelled), and you’ve got your veggies as well. Every food group wins.
Let me take a brief minute here to rave about edamame too. Can you think of a better appetizer?! Usually you sit down at a restaurant, already starving, and are greeted by a basket of warm, delicious but dangerous baked bread. Edamame gives you the opportunity to chow down immediately, without ruining your meal or your diet.
The gist of this rant is: if you don’t like sushi, and you want to hang with me, it’s a problem.
Enter, my mother.
She hates sushi. She hates raw fish, she doesn’t know what wasabi is and she thinks “Sashay Me” is a dance move.
So when she was in town visiting last week, I didn’t even try to get her to go to sushi with me. Well… until she offered.
Knowing I was sick and in need of my favorite food to make me feel better, she gave in and headed to Echi with me.
The last time we went to sushi together, she took one bite of my roll and spit it into her napkin. “It’s raw!” she exclaimed in horror. “Yeah,” I said. “It’s sushi, durrr.”
This time though, I was prepared to convert her.
Most beginners have their first dalliance with sushi by trying a California Roll. But that’s so pedestrian. I wanted my mom to be a little more high brow with her sushi selection. So I avoided the whole raw issue by picking a roll with baked fish instead, an Alaskan Roll.
I know rolls with the same name have different ingredients at different restaurants, so to clarify, this had baked salmon on top of a California Roll.
She loved it.
I was shocked and thrilled. We can finally enjoy sushi restaurants together. This opens a whole new world of dining experiences for her.
She liked the roll so much that she didn’t even notice the little orange things on top and I didn’t feel the need to tell her it was Masago (fish eggs).
The point of all this is, is that people who say they don’t like sushi just haven’t found the sushi for them. If you love sushi like me and have a sushi-phobe for a friend, try getting to the bottom of their worries, and remedy the problem.
They don’t like seaweed? Try soy paper or cucumber wrapped rolls. Raw fish freaks them out like my mom? Try baked fish, shrimp, or crab. On a no-carb diet? Go for the sashimi.
Are they intimidated by chopsticks? Hook them up with a Chopstick Helper!
Sushi is just too amazing for me to let anyone spend their life in fear of it. It’s fabulous.
Katy says:
I’m like you. I think I could eat sushi for every meal and be perfectly happy. And – this blog post made me crave it :)
Whitney English says:
We should go sometime! I’ll introduce you to Echi :)