The BeginningSushi may seem like it is a very simple dish that was fairly simple to think of and easy to create, but sushi's history is a much more complex and deeper one than just that. Although the concept of sushi has been around for quite awhile, (since the second century A.D, actually), sushi in its modern form is a relatively new concept compared how long it has been around. But to truly grasp sushi's history, it is best to go back to its origins.
Sushi original was invented around the second century A.D in China. Fish was wrapped in rice which would ferment and then could preserve the fish. This allowed for the fish to stay edible for much longer periods of time, and when wanted, the rice would be thrown away and fish could be cooked and eaten. This concept spread to the Japanese. They decided that throwing away the rice was quite a waste, so they began to eat the rice with the fish. In the early 17th century in Edo, Japan, (now the city of Tokyo), a man named Matsumoto Yoshiichi began to season the rice with rice wine vinegar, which made it taste better as well as allowed it to be eaten immediately because the fermentation was sped up. and the rice stuck together. Sushi rapidly grew and became more and more popular. It wasn't long before sushi became a very popular dish, and people started selling it and creating new innovations in taste and looks of sushi. |
Globalization Beginnings
When sushi started to become more and more popular, many smart investors and restaurant owner wanted to bring sushi west, but the ultimate question was how to get something as temperature sensitive and expensive as raw fish all over the globe? JAL, or Japanese Airlines, was up to the task. In the 1970s however, cargo only made up about 3% of JALs total business. They did not let this stand in their way however and quickly hired Akira Okazaki. Okazaki was a renowned expert in cargo transportation and was know known for uncovering new markets for cargo all around the world. Okazaki was tasked with finding new unique and off market spots where fish and other sea creatures were plentiful. As well as finding untouched fishing waters, Okazaki had a much more difficult task; he needed to find a way to transport fish, mainly red cuts of tuna around the globe, and more specifically getting Canadian tuna to Tokyo. Tuna had previously been dismissed by the Japanese and also the world because of its fatty content, but with global tastes changing, tuna was starting to rise into high demand, and a need to transport was becoming a necessity. This project would become known as Okazaki's Tuna Project. Originally it was between transporting on boats or planes, but it was quickly decided Okazaki and his crew would pursue ways of transportation onboard airplanes. The two main problems that they found were that a substitute for chipped ice would be needed to insulate the fish because the combination of the cooling systems on board plus the cost of the actual ice was becoming absurdly expensive. The literal tons of ice also added lots of unnecessary weight which meant that less tuna could be transported because the plane could only care a finite amount of weight, and tuna is not exactly a light fish. On average, an Atlantic tuna weighs about 830 lbs, which is what Okazaki was mainly trying to haul. The main problem that was trying to be avoided was freezer burn on the fish. Okazaki put a yellowtail tuna on domestic JAL flights for as many as four days. The fish has been gutted, stuffed with ice, and the tail packed with ice and wrapped in news paper. Although the experiment was far from perfect, the meat arrived in extremely good condition. By putting the ice inside of the fish and using new insulation technology around the fish, Okazaki discovered a new way to transport fish around the world without major freezer burn. This innovation allowed for for sushi to take off in the global food market and allowed for globalization to be taken to a whole new level in the food industry.