From Minimalism to Maximalism 

-Sushi earliest origin was in Japan and China in the third century BCE, it began as fermented fish and rice. To the left here I wanted to add the earliest way that the word sushi was written by the Japanese. In Eric Rath book Oishii the History of Sushi when he is discussing the orgin of the word sushi he states "But why did the Japanese call it sushi? When the Japanese adopted the Chinese characters, they typically retained the original Chinese Pronunciation and also applied the characters to an existing Japanese word to create the Japanese meaning. According to one hypothesis that dates at least to the end of the seventeenth century the Japanese word for sushi was derived from the word sui, meaning 'sour tasting'"(Rath 12). Sushi came to Japan with the rice paddy agriculture, sushi was made with other grains before this such as millet. "Once again environmental conditions plainly intervene in such interactions"(Colas 45). Rice was able to thrive in Japan because of their mild and slightly humid climate. It was also able to thrive because according to Spengler "As elaborate irrigation technology spread farther into central Asia along with Islam cusines changed.. The prominence of rice in Central and south west Asia likely dates to this period"(Spengler 21). This begins to show the movement of rice on the silk road and the way it has traveled through Asia. This style of sushi was called funazushi, there is a long process of preparing the fish and curing a fish would take around 4 months. Sushi began as a street food and eventually people who were knowledgeable about how to make sushi opened shops. Price, location, and seasonality will determine what one eats, typical selection (shrimp,tuna,salmon, omelette, squid).By the end of the 12th century it was had grown into such a commodity that was sold and found associated with banquets of the elite 

There was little mention of Japanese food in US media until after WWII. During the war most of the Japanese restaurants opened were closed due to war and immigration laws that banned all travel from Asia. Postwar, Honolulu was the only place where sushi could be found regularly in restaurants, until around 1965 when restaurants began serving sushi in Los Angeles and New York. The media began to cover this and actually had to explain what sushi was and how it was made because most Americans knew nothing about it. It was shared through the media as the representative food of Japan which is why so many people believe that it only originated in Japan (it originated in China as well).Many of these restaurants were not owned by Japanese people themselves but by other asian communities like Chinese, Thai, and Koreans (Same for Europe). California roll was actually invented in Los Angeles around 1965 and by 1980 many described sushi was just as rooted in the California culture as surfing. The establishment of sushi in Europe was a similar timeline as the US and became most popular in Germany. Today, California has more Japanese restaurants than any other state in the country. This image to the left is showing where the majority of certain kinds of fish are caught from all over the world. The globalization of sushi can also be attributed the increase in international travel, cultural exchange, and rise of Japanese business abroad. "Flows of Japanese labor and capital into the US (including the new international class of business expatriates) established new Japanese communities.(House, 2018). There has also been a big economic impact as well with the demand of the fishing industry because of the rise in popularity of sushi. 

Most of the issues that may arise with sushi come from the fish that is involved in the cuisine. When it comes to fishing there has been controversy on the topic of overfishing and how sustainable of a food sushi can be with its popularity only rising. Environmental pollution is a huge issues with things like fallout of harmful materials, as well as micro-plastics, mercury poison which can all affect the quality of fish and put humans in danger. Another concern for seafood consumption is child labour.  Child labour is widespread in the fishing industry and with illegal fishing it has lead to employment of migrant workers many who are very young. Fish can also contain parasites such as roundworms, tapeworms, and flukes (this is fairly rare), raw fish also increases the risk of other seafood illnesses such as hepatitis, E coli, and typhoid which are caused by contaminated water

Sushi was not something that I really grew up eating. My dad actually shared with me the first time he remembers eating sushi. He was actually out to dinner with my mom and her parents while they were still dating. They ate sushi a lot because my grandpa worked for a large tech company and did a lot of business in Japan. It still to this day is one of my grandpas favorite foods. So because it was his first time my grandpa was explaining to him the differences between the rolls, the nigiri, and the sashimi. My dad remembers liking the rolls immediately but feeling a lot more apprehensive when looking at the nigiri and the sashimi. H said he felt like he had to because of my grandpa but he was glad he tried it because he said he kind of liked it. From then on he ate sushi more and more and eventually decided to share with me. When I got over the scariness of something being raw I immediately fell in love with the cuisine. I am not sure I remember the first time I had it but I remember only eating California rolls for a really long time because I was scared of everything else. Little did I know that now that is something that I never think to order, I usually only choose the raw fish now!