Oishii: The History of Sushi
By Eric C. Rath, 223pp.
Reaktion Books, 2021
In his latest book on Japanese food history, Eric Rath, Professor of Premodern Japanese History at the University of Kansas has combined his usual research on pre-modern Japan food history with modern day sushi to give a deep look at the things that have combined over perhaps one-thousand years to give the world the most iconic Japanese food, sushi.
Rath starts the book off with the origin of the name sushi (in writing, from two ancient Chinese characters referring to fish preserved with salt and rice, and from a word used to describe sour foods), then proceeds to describe two different types of sushi, one made sour through the development of lactic acid through fermentation (such as funazushi, generally made by preserving funa, a type of fresh water lake fish, in rice and salt), the other from the addition of vinegar. He also makes a point that due to a number of reasons, we cannot be sure today what sushi was like long ago, especially before 1600. No one even knows for sure where and when “sushi” was first made, but circumstantial and written evidence suggests southeast China, perhaps over two-thousand years ago thanks to mention of fish preserved in salt, rice, wine and spices.
Relying mostly on diaries from the 15th, 16th and early 17th centuries (Japan’s first cookbook/book of cooking instructions, Ryōri monogatari, was not published until 1643), rath explores the various regional sushi that existed in the pre-Edo period, many of which can still be found today. One thing I found interesting about the historic recipes was the huge amounts of salt called for. Considering salt was a valuable commodity, as was the rice as well, it is doubtful of many people other than the elite ever ate these dishes.
Like with the history of many recipes no matter where they originated, there are gaps without no written records. What seems to be a consistent with the recipes that he considers to be for sushi is the large amounts of salt used. While salt is salt, but many of the recipes he cites use unspecified grains. Often it is rice, what we would expect today, but in some cases it is unclear what is to be used, at least with the recipes for funazushi and other types of ancient sushi known collectively as narezushi.
I had long been under the impression that modern day nigiri sushi originated in the 19th century at a restaurant in Ryōgoku owned by Hanaya Yohe’e or Yohei. Rath’s examination of this shows that the story is only partially correct or maybe just inconclusive. The restaurant did make nigiri sushi, but may have only modified existing styles, which seems likely. The restaurant probably gets credit for being the first thanks to Koizumi Seizaburō, a grandson of the founder, publishing a book of sushi recipes in 1910, Katei sushi no tsukekata (English title). Putting this story, or any story, in a book, is a sure way to get future generations to buy into history.
There were two things about the book I did not particularly like, one which could be easily remedied, the other being pretty much inescapable. The inescapable part is the final couple of chapters which cover such things as sustainability and health issues. The sustainability part has previously been covered in several other books as well as many articles, but it is still something important that I admit does have a place in this—and any other book on sushi. I did learn a few things about fish parasites from Rath’s book, but other heath related topics were again somewhat of a repeat.
What I really found frustrating in the book was the use of western names for fish, names I am for the most part unfamiliar with. After a while I just gave up on trying to look up the names used in the world of sushi. I think it likely that most people that will read Rath’s latest book will be familiar with sushi, and therefore familiar with the names of the fish eaten as sushi. At a minimum, providing a bi-lingual appendix of fish names would make the book much easier to follow.
Does Rath answer the question of where sushi came from? Yes and no. He has done a great job of tracing the history of modern sushi’s origins, but admits there are many gaps and many aspects that rely on speculation due to there just not being reliable records, and no fossilized sushi to examine. Even the origins of the modern-day creation of the California roll are unclear, and that is only from forty-some (or should it be fifty-some?) years in the past.