The Galateo to eat sushi
If you like the Japanese restaurants and you can’t turn down to a dish of sushi, this article would solve many problems! Unless you are expert eaters of sashimi and onigiri, it is possible that you have had some difficulties! How to use chopsticks? How much soy sauce should I have to use? Which are the most important rules of the Japanese etiquette?
To make things easier, without seeming boor in the eyes of the Japanese chef that is cleaning your salmon, follow these rules and put them into practice next time!
Before starting, let’s learn some names!
Sashimi consists in slices of raw or marinated fish under brine, served alone,
Nigiri is raw fish on a rice ball,
Hosomaki small cylinders with a piece of fish or vegetable wrapped in rice and Nori seaweed,
Uramaki are fish and vegetable rolls of rice (no external seaweed rather black sesame seeds and fish eggs),
Temaki are cones of seaweed stuffed with fish and rice
10 rules to start eating sushi
- All in one gulp. It is forbidden to cut hosomaki and uramaki because they would dismember loosing rice and fish. Keep sushi all together and eat in one gulp.
- Use chopsticks if you can. In any case do not use forks and knife rather your hands, their use is accepted. But for sashimi only chopsticks!
- Did you choose the chopsticks? Thus learn the right technique and improve it, do not pierce the rice because it is something that you do to offer rice to the dead. Grab it gently from the side, as it was a plier.
- Last advice on the chopsticks: during the pauses place them on the chopsticks holder and do not rub them, it is considered an impolite behaviour.
- Do not pass sushi to your companions from chopsticks to others. It is unseemly and reminds the transfer of bones during the funerals.
- No knife, do not cut sushi, even less hosomaki and uramaki. Fish is so soft that you don’t need to break it with a knife.
- Use saffron frugally. The delicious pickled candied saffron hasn’t been eaten greedy rather eat a small piece between a dish and another to clean the palate. It is pretty strong, in fact it anesthetize the mouth, erasing all the tastes and perfumes.
- Soy sauce isn’t a soup where you can dive the rice! Dip only the fish whereas the rice shouldn’t been soaked to not broke it. And do not even think to divide rice and fish to soak it better. Do not divide Nigiri!
- Do you want to start the meal with the classic miso soup without spoons? Japanese people place the bowl near the mouth and use the chopsticks to push the solid ingredients in the mouth and at the end sip the broth.
- If you want to respect the tradition of a real Japanese meal substitute water and beer with a hot green tea. This is the typical drink paired with sushi. At the end of the meal give yourself a sake.
