I thought this was an interesting tidbit feeling, as I am, a little nationalistic these days: Canada seems to have played a pivotal role in the birth of Modern Sushi. I uncovered this gem while reading The Sushi Economy, Globalization and the Making of Modern Sushi, by Sasha Issenberg. It turns out that, in October 1971, an employee of Japan Airlines (JAL) started making enquiries about tuna fishing along Canada's East Coast. A Canadian-based employee of the airline passed on some information which included a reference to an annual tuna hunt in PEI which was frequented by sports fisherman - the typical ooutcome of which was catching big fish, having pictures taken with them, and then bull-dozing them over in a big hole.A few months later - after much trial and error, and research into long-distance refrigeration techniques, JAL brought the first Canadian giant bluefin tuna into the Japanese market - marking the "day of the flying fish".
And why the birth of Modern Sushi? Well, the introduction of Canadian bluefin, and the knowledge learned about long distance refrigeration, kick-started the millenia-old concept of sushi, as really fresh tuna was introduced in to the market, the prices dropped while quality increased, and it became more accessible to people.
I've moved on from reading about lobsters (The Secret Life of Lobsters, Trevor Corson), so I expect to learn alot more about the rise of one of my most favorite meals. I'll keep you tuned.
2 comments:
If you liked my book The Secret LIfe of Lobsters and if you like Sasha's book on sushi, I've got a new book out on sushi as well! It's called The Zen of Fish: The Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket. It covers some quite different terrain from Sasha's, so the two books actually go pretty well together. If you're a big sushi fan check it out.
Cheers,
Trevor
Thank you for the comment Trevor. I'm a little embarrassed to say that it had been your book that I had wanted to buy when I was visiting NY recently and wanted to pick it up at a bargain (to Cannadian book prices). But unfortunately I couldn't recall the name and was pointed to Sasha's instead. But not to fear, I still have it on my list of books to read because I enjoyed The Secret Life so much. Thanks again.
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