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The Importance Of Eating Raw Fish On The United States

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The idea of eating raw fish sickens most people in the United States, but in Japan, sushi is considered a delicacy that takes several years to perfect. Some professional chefs have had ten years of schooling to learn how to properly prepare sushi. They start with the basics, like how to properly make sticky rice - the rice used in sushi - and how to slice the fish so there is the perfect amount. The reason why the amount of schooling is so long is due to the fact that the aspiring chefs learn every little detail about making and presenting sushi. The presentation of the sushi is just as important to them as how it tastes. All food is presented perfectly; some restaurant owners use plastic food, that they have placed in a display window, …show more content…

Although the Chinese were the first to document sushi, the Japanese is given credit for creating it. According to Tori Avey, in the article, “Discover the History of Sushi,” sushi originated near Lake Biwa in Japan over 1,000 years ago (para 4). Like many ancient items, no one knows the true origin of sushi. In the article, Avey mentions a wives tale that contains what many people believe to be the origin of sushi, it goes like this. An elderly woman hid her pot rice in an osprey nest as a result of her being afraid of thieves coming in the night and take it; she found that after a certain amount of time the rice would begin to ferment. Additionally, she noticed that scraps of fish from her osprey nest had fallen into the rice. After tasting this odd combination she discovered a very tasty meal and thus sushi was born (para.1). Avey continues on by noting that the elderly woman also discovered the fermented rice preserved the fish, which allowed her to extend it’s shelf life (para.1). Avey goes on to say that the combination of rice and fish is known as nare-zushi, or “aged sushi” (para. 3). The first form of aged sushi that was documented was Funa-zushi, funa being the Japanese word for “Golden Carp.” This freshwater fish was caught in Lake Biwa and sent through the fermenting process, which, according to Avey, “took at least half a year to complete” (para 4). Since this process was so long only the wealthy in Japan could

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