Sushi

Although it is very common for everyone, I think sushi is something good to put on the blog.

In Japanese cuisine, sushi (寿司, sushi?) is a food made of vinegared rice combined with various toppings or fillings, especially seafood, but also vegetables, mushrooms, eggs, or meat. Most, but not all, fish used in sushi is raw; other ingredients may be cooked, blanched, sauteed, or marinated.
Sushi as an English word has come to refer to the complete dish (rice together with toppings); this is the sense used in this article. The original term Japanese: 寿司 sushi (-zushi in some compounds such as makizushi), written with kanji (Chinese characters) means snack and refers to the rice, not the fish or other toppings.

History

Sushi originates from the practice of preserving fish by fermenting it in rice for months, a tradition which can be traced back to Southeast Asia, specifically the Mekong River section of Indochina. The fermented fish and rice dish still exists today as Pla Som in Thailand, Som Pa in Laos and Ngachin in Burma, all meaning "sour tasting fish". There are no known names for this dish in Chinese or Korean, indicating a likely southeast Asian route of introduction into Japan along with Southeast Asian rice.

Modern Japanese-adopted sushi evolved to have little resemblance to this original Southeast Asian cuisine. When the fermented fish was taken out to be eaten, only the fish was eaten - the rice was discarded. The strong-tasting narezushi which is made near Lake Biwa resembles the traditional fermented dish. Starting in the Muromachi Period (1336–1573) in Japan, rice vinegar was added to the mixture. This accentuated the sourness of the dish and increased its life span, while allowing the fermentation process to be shortened and eventually abandoned.

URL:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sushi