Some Awesome Stuff Inspired by Sushi

 

I heart sushi. I could seriously eat it every day. Don't know how good that would be for me...but I would.

     Sushi has traveled the world to become one of the most popular foods to come out of Japan. The so-called "Sushi Boom" of the 1980's and '90s made sushi extremely popular in North America and especially in the U.S.
     I can remember the first time I went for sushi with my family in high school. The thought of eating raw food, particularly fish, was pretty shocking to most New Hampshire residents and my parents and I were included. We started pretty safe by ordering California rolls (which have artificial crab meat and no raw ingredients) but quickly moved into raw varieties and loved everything we tried. I can remember falling in love with Salmon and to this day can easily pack away nothing but salmon nigiri sushi (Salmon laid over a flat bed of rice) when I go out for Kaiten Sushi (sushi on a conveyor belt that customers pick by plate color/price) here in Japan. Of course, I have expanded my sushi preferences since spending time in Japan (the only sushi I have found that I don't like are Octopus and Natto (rotten soybeans)),

 Oh it looks sooo disgusting...I can't even handle how gross Natto is...let alone Natto sushi...

but it occurred to me recently that I'm ordering completely different sushi than I was back in the states and that it is true that only certain Western sushi has come back to become popular in Japan. I have to admit that I really miss Caterpillar Rolls, a popular Western Maki Roll that has Avocado and Eel (unagi) wrapped around it with a special sauce that is absolutely delicious. Of course you can get rolls with avocado and eel here in Japan, but no caterpillar role per se. I mentioned this to a Japanese friend of mine and he said he had never even heard of the variety, further proving to me that there is a lot of Western sushi that is truly of American origin and distribution. Curious about my discovery, I went on Wikipedia and found the following had been written about "Western Sushi:"

"Western sushi

The increasing popularity of sushi in North America as well as around the world has resulted in variations of sushi typically found in the West but rarely if at all in Japan. Such creations to suit the Western palate^[11] were initially fueled by the invention of the California roll. A wide variety of popular rolls has evolved since. Some examples include:

• California roll consists of avocado, kani kama (imitation crab stick), and cucumber, often made uramaki (with rice on the outside, nori on the inside)
• Caterpillar roll generally includes avocado, unagi, kani kama, and cucumber.
• Dynamite roll includes yellowtail (hamachi), and fillings such as bean sprouts, carrots, chili and spicy mayonnaise (In some parts of Canada, especially western Canada, a dynamite roll consists of a tempura-fried shrimp, masago (capelin roe), avocado and cucumber.)
• Rainbow roll is typically a California roll topped with several various sashimi.
• Spider roll includes fried soft shell crab and other fillings such as cucumber, avocado, daikon sprouts or lettuce, roe, and spicy mayonnaise.
• Philadelphia roll almost always consists of smoked salmon, cream cheese, cucumber, and/or onion.
• Salmon skin roll has grilled salmon skin with sweet sauce and cucumber.
• Crunchy roll a California roll deep fried tempura-style, often topped with sweet eel sauce or chili sauce.
• Seattle roll consists of cucumber, avocado, and raw or smoked salmon.
• B.C. Roll contains salmon skin, roe, cucumber, sweet sauce.
• Louisiana Roll contains blue crab and/or crawfish, spicy mayonnaise, creole seasoning or hot sauce, and sometimes green onion and cucumber.

Other rolls may include scallops, spicy tuna, beef or chicken or teriyaki roll, okra, and vegetables.Sushi rolls can also be made with brown rice and black rice. These have also appeared in Japanese cuisine.
In Hawaii, there is a predominant style of maki sushi that includes shoyu tuna (canned not fresh), tamago, kanpyō, kamaboko, and the distinctive red and green hana ebi (shrimp powder)."

 I couldn't help but find this very interesting, and now I think I may have to make some of these sushi rolls for some Japanese friends and see what they think!
 Well, enough about Western Sushi...it's making me hungry!
 Here are some awesome things I discovered recently that were inspired by the awesomeness that is Sushi.

 Sushi Cat is an awesome Flash Game designed by Armor Games
 "Sushi Cat is lonely. Lonely and very hungry. Help Sushi Cat out by guiding him to as much sushi as possible. Watch him grow fat as he eats more and more sushi along his way. Fill up his belly to win."
 Sounds pretty simple right? Well, it is for the most part, but sometimes it's true that simple games are pretty damn fun! This game is fantastic and a great way to kill 30 minutes between a class!

 This Amazing Sushi Bento Art I found on Google Images is sooo neat! I wish I could buy a bento like this!

 

The People at SushiorDeath.com brought us this fantastic advertisement from Canada. It reads "Here is a fantastic adverts for a local sushi bar in Canada. Yuzu Sushi in Quebeck used the agency Lg2 to come up with this one. An innovative use of a spare tire, don’t you think?"

And here are some of the best Bentos I have ever seen. Laura, you have some serious talent making lunch!!!

http://www.flickr.com/photos/laurabento/sets/72157614207302713/show/with/3352740938/

It makes me so hungry...now I feel like I have to run down the street to our Kaiten Zushi bar!!!

 and let's not forget the boatload of T Shirts, Pillows and other fun products inspired by delicious sushi!!!

 This sweet T Shirt called "Human Sushi" is available at oneinchpunch.net

     and this kawaii one is on Zazzle.

and last but not least, from my favorite retailer on the web ThinkGeek.com
 Sushi Pillows, Magnets and Plushies...
 Those plushies are seriously awesome and making me wish I could afford shipping to Japan because, interestingly enough, I have never seen sushi plushies out here in Japan (though I bet they probably have existed at some point. Just today I saw plushie Mameshiba at Don Quixote.)

 

Awesometastic.

Well I'm off to go get some sushi...because I'm really craving some now!

Hope you are out enjoying some sushi in the near future.

 Lady Jones