A horse’s ass is better than yours! - Cibo Matto, “Beef Jerky.”
The idea of deer sushi sounds like a Cibo Matto song from the late 1990′s. There is something so odd, so surreal about Japanese sushi chefs incorporating horse and deer into their sushi that it might as well be served by a Japanese art rock song along with some Sci-Fi wasabi. However, in the New York Times this morning, sushi chefs in Japan are grappling with featuring deer and horse meat, among other non-traditional sushi ingredients, due to worldwide limits on fishing tuna. While tuna is not the only seafood used in sushi, it is one of the most popular.
The limited availability of tuna challenges the definition of sushi in Japan. While sushi may go back several centuries, the popular delicacy only dates back to the 19th century. The vinegared rice was originally created as a preservative for fish (and not eaten), but making rice balls, or nigiri, together with fish is more of a recent development.
Sushi has become such as definitive part of Japanese culture and cuisine that changing it seems unthinkable. However, given the history of sushi, it has evolved over the centuries and was even changed by innovation in the 19th century. There’s no reason to think that it can’t adapt now.
Enjoy this humorous video on Sushi etiquette by the Rahmens*, a Japanese comedy troupe:
*official site in Japanese. Hopefully, some info can be gleaned here in English.
Links:
- NY Times, Waiter, There’s A Deer In My Sushi.
- A History of Sushi.
- Asian Artmall’s Sushi History.
