ICHIBAN SUSHI

The traditional form of sushi is fermented fish and rice, preserved with salt in a process that has been traced to 7th century China (Tang Dynasty) and even Southeast Asia, where it remains popular today. The term sushi comes from an archaic grammatical form no longer used in other contexts; literally, "sushi" means "sour-tasting", a reflection of its historic fermented roots.



The vinegar produced from fermenting rice breaks down the fish proteins into amino acids. This results in one of the five basic tastes, called umami in Japanese. The oldest form of sushi in Japan, narezushi, still very closely resembles this process. In Japan, narezushi evolved into oshizushi and ultimately Edomae nigirizushi, which is what the world today knows as "sushi".