Nayra Jain
Jun 13, 2025
Originally, sushi wasn’t about raw fish. In ancient Southeast Asia, fish was fermented with rice to preserve it for months, with the rice often discarded after the process.
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Narezushi, the oldest form of sushi, appeared in Japan over 1,000 years ago. It involved salted fish fermented in rice, giving it a strong, pungent taste and long shelf life.
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Sushi's concept was imported into Japan from regions along the Mekong River, evolving with local ingredients and techniques over centuries to suit Japanese tastes.
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In its earliest form, rice was used purely for fermentation and not eaten. Only the preserved fish was consumed, a stark contrast to modern sushi styles.
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Nigiri sushi, the hand-pressed version with raw fish on vinegared rice, became popular in Edo (now Tokyo) as a type of quick street food sold from stalls.
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In the Edo period, vinegar began to replace the long fermentation process. It allowed for quicker preparation and gave sushi its distinctive sour-sweet flavour.
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Traditional nigiri sushi was designed to be eaten with fingers, especially in street-food settings. Using hands was more practical than chopsticks at the time.
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The term ‘sushi’ actually describes the seasoned rice, not the raw fish. This rice is flavoured with vinegar, sugar, and salt, making it central to all sushi types.
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From fermented origins to sushi trains and fusion rolls, sushi’s development mirrors cultural exchange, adaptation, and culinary creativity across time and continents.
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Sushi gained global popularity after World War II, especially in the 1960s–70s, when Japanese cuisine entered the Western mainstream, led by sushi bars and fusion dishes.
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