What is the name of the Japanese dish of bite-sized pieces of raw fish served with dipping sauces, vegetables and wasabi?
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Japanese cuisine has developed through centuries of social and economic changes, and encompasses the regional and traditional foods of Japan. The traditional cuisine of Japan (washoku  or ) is based on rice with miso soup and other dishes, with an emphasis on seasonal ingredients. Side dishes often consist of fish, pickled vegetables, and vegetables cooked in broth. Fish is common, often grilled, but also served raw as sashimi or in sushi. Seafood and vegetables are also deep-fried in a light batter as tempura.

Apart from rice, staples include noodles, such as soba and udon. Japan has many simmered dishes such as fish products in broth called oden, or beef in sukiyaki and nikujaga. Foreign food, in particular Chinese food in the form of noodles in soup called ramen and fried dumplings, gyoza, and western food such as curry and hamburger steaks are commonly found in Japan. Historically, the Japanese shunned meat, but with the modernization of Japan in the 1880s, meat-based dishes such as tonkatsu became common.

Japan has an indigenous form of sweets called wagashi include ingredients such as red bean paste as well as indegenous rice wine or sake.

Japanese cuisine, particularly sushi, has now become popular throughout the world. As of 2011, Japan overtook France in number of Michelin starred restaurants and has maintained the title since.

Overview of traditional Japanese cuisine

Japanese cuisine is based on combining the staple food, which is steamed white rice or , with one or several okazu or main dishes and side dishes. This may be accompanied by a clear or miso soup and tsukemono (pickles).

The phrase  refers to the makeup of a typical meal served, but has roots in classic kaiseki, honzen, and yūsoku cuisine. The term is also used to describe the first course served in standard kaiseki cuisine nowadays., p.158, explains that in the tea kaiseki, the

Rice is served in its own small bowl (chawan), and each course item is placed on its own small plate (sara) or bowl (hachi) for each individual portion. This is done even at home. It contrasts with the Western-style dinners at home, where each individual takes helpings from the large serving dishes of food presented at the middle of the dining table. Japanese style traditionally abhors different flavored dishes touching each other on a single plate, so different dishes are given their own individual plates as mentioned, or are partitioned using leaves, etc. This is why in take-out sushi the tamagoyaki egg and fish, or blue-backed fish and white-fleshed fish are carefully separated. Placing okazu on top of rice and "soiling" it is also frowned upon by old-fashioned etiquette.  Though this tradition originated from Classical Chinese dining formalities, especially after the adoption of Buddhism with its tea ceremony, and became most popular and common  during and after the Kamakura period, such as the Kaiseki. Japanese cuisine keeps such tradition still, whereas in modern times such practice is in sharp contrast to present day Chinese cuisine, where placing food on rice is standard, However the exception is the popular donburi.

The small rice bowl or chawan (lit. "tea bowl") doubles as a word for the large tea bowls in tea ceremonies. Thus in common speech, the drinking cup is referred to as yunomi-jawan or yunomi for the purpose of distinction.

In the olden days, among the nobility, each course of a full-course Japanese meal would be brought on serving napkins called , which were originally platformed trays or small dining tables. In the modern age, faldstool trays or stackup-type legged trays may still be seen used in zashiki, i.e. tatami-mat rooms, for large banquets or at a ryokan type inn. Some restaurants might use the suffix  as a more sophisticated though dated synonym to the more familiar , since the latter basically is a term for a combo meal served at a taishū-shokudō, akin to a diner.  Teishoku means a meal of fixed menu, a dinner à prix fixe  served at  or , which is somewhat vague (shokudō can mean a diner-type restaurant or a corporate lunch hall); but e.g.  defines it as fare served at , etc., a diner-like establishment.

Seasonality

Emphasis is placed on seasonality of food or ,  and dishes are designed to herald the arrival of the four seasons or calendar months.

Seasonality means taking advantage of the  (e.g. bamboo shoots in spring, chestnuts in the fall) as well as the  as they come into season. Thus  that arrives with the Kuroshio Current has traditionally been greatly prized.

If something becomes available rather earlier than usual, the first crop or early catch is called hashiri. 

Use of (inedible) tree leaves and branches as decor is also characteristic of Japanese cuisine. Maple leaves are often floated on water to exude coolness or , sprigs of nandina are popularly used. The haran (Aspidistra) and sasa bamboo leaves were often cut into shapes, and placed underneath or used as separators.

Traditional ingredients

A characteristic of traditional Japanese food is the sparing use of red meat, oils and fats, and dairy products., quote: "Relatively alien to the traditional Japanese diet were meat, oil and fats, and dairy products.."  Use of ingredients such as soy sauce, miso, and umeboshi tends to result in dishes with high salt content, though there are low-sodium versions of these available.

Meat consumption

As Japan is an island nation surrounded by an ocean, its people have always taken advantage of the abundant seafood supply.  It is the opinion of some food scholars that the Japanese diet always relied mainly on "grains with vegetables or seaweeds as main, with poultry secondary, and red meat in slight amounts" even before the advent of Buddhism which placed an even stronger taboo., vol. 17, p.356, "Nihon ryori", section by Motoyama: "日本人の食料はもともと穀類を中心として菜藻を主とし、鳥肉がこれにつぎ、獣肉はわすがであったが、仏教渡来後.." The eating of  was spoken of as taboo,  unclean or something to be avoided by personal choice through the Edo Period.  Notably, the consumption of whale and terrapin meat were not forbidden under this definition. Despite this, the consumption of red meat did not completely disappear in Japan. Eating wild game—as opposed to domesticated livestock—was tolerated; in particular, trapped hare was counted using the measure word , a term normally reserved for birds.

Vegetable consumption has dwindled while processed foods have become more prominent in Japanese households due to the rising costs of general foodstuffs.  Nonetheless, Kyoto vegetables, or Kyoyasai, are rising in popularity and different varieties of Kyoto vegetables are being revived. 

Cooking oil

Generally speaking, traditional Japanese cuisine is prepared with little cooking oil. A major exception is the deep-frying of foods. This cooking method was introduced during the Edo Period due to influence from Western (formerly called ) and Chinese cuisine,, p.16 安土,桃山時代から江戸時代にかけて南蛮料理や中国料理の影響と油の生産増大に伴い、油揚や天麩羅,素揚,薩摩撝など副食物として and became commonplace with the availability of cooking oil due to increased productivity. Dishes such as tempura, aburaage, and satsumaage are now part of established traditional Japanese cuisine. Words such as tempura or hiryōzu (synonymous with ganmodoki) are said to be of Portuguese origin.

Also, certain homey or rustic sorts of traditional Japanese foods such as kinpira, hijiki, and kiriboshi daikon usually involve stir-frying in oil before stewing in soy sauce. Some standard osōzai or  dishes feature stir-fried Japanese greens with either age or , dried sardines.

Seasonings

Traditional Japanese food is typically seasoned with a combination of dashi, soy sauce, sake and mirin, vinegar, sugar, and salt. These are typically the only seasonings used when grilling or braising an item. A modest number of herbs and spices may be used during cooking as a hint or accent, or as a means of neutralizing fishy or gamy odors present. Examples of such spices include ginger and  red pepper. This contrasts conceptually with barbecue or stew, where a blend of seasonings is used before and during cooking.

Once a main dish has been cooked, spices such as minced ginger and various pungent herbs may be added as a garnish, called tsuma. With certain milder items, a dollop of wasabi and grated daikon (daikon-oroshi), or Japanese mustard are provided as condiments. A sprig of mitsuba or a piece of yuzu rind floated on soups are called ukimi. Minced shiso leaves and myoga often serve as yakumi, a type of condiment paired with tataki of katsuo or soba. Finally, a dish may be garnished with minced seaweed in the form of crumpled nori or flakes of aonori. Shichimi is also a very popular spice mixture often added to soups, noodles and rice cakes, Shichimi is a chilli based spice mix which containing 7 spices: chilli, sansho, orange peel, black sesame, white sesame, hemp, ginger, and nori  

Dishes

In the aforementioned stock phrase , the word  has the basic meaning of "vegetable", but secondarily means any accompanying dish  including fish or meat. It figures in the Japanese word for appetizer, ; main dish, ; or  (formal synonym for okazu - considered somewhat of a housewife's term ).

Salads

The  is boiled green-leaf vegetables bunched and cut to size, steeped in dashi broth,   eaten with dashes of soy sauce. Another item is , which could be made with wakame seaweed,, p.147 "wakame and cucumber in sanbaizu dressing (sunomono)"; p.74 "sanbaizu" recipe or be something like a   made from thin toothpick slices of daikon and carrot. The so-called vinegar that is blended with the ingredient here is often  which is a blend of vinegar, mirin, and soy sauce. A  adds katsuo dashi to this. Note sparing use of oil, compared with Western salads.

An  is another group of items, describable as a sort of "tossed salad" or "dressed" (though aemono also includes thin strips of squid or fish sashimi (itozukuri) etc. similarly prepared). One types are  where usually vegetables such as green beans are tossed with white or black sesame seeds ground in a suribachi mortar bowl, flavored additionally with sugar and soy sauce.   adds tofu (bean curd) in the mix.,p.241-253 An aemono is tossed with vinegar-white miso mix and uses wakegi scallion and  as standard.

Cooking techniques

Different cooking techniques are applied to each of the three okazu; they may be raw (sashimi), grilled, simmered (sometimes called boiled), steamed, deep-fried, vinegared, or dressed.

List of dishes

Below are listed some of the most common:
* grilled and pan-fried dishes (yakimono 焼き物),
* stewed/simmered/cooked/boiled dishes (nimono 煮物),
* stir-fried dishes (itamemono 炒め物),
* steamed dishes (mushimono 蒸し物),
* deep-fried dishes (agemono 揚げ物),
* sliced raw fish (sashimi 刺身),
* soups (suimono 吸い物 and shirumono 汁物),
* pickled/salted vegetables (tsukemono 漬け物),
* dishes dressed with various kinds of sauce (aemono 和え物),
* vinegared dishes (su-no-mono 酢の物),
* delicacies, food of delicate flavor (chinmi 珍味). 

Classification

Kaiseki

Kaiseki, closely associated with tea ceremony (chanoyu), is a high form of hospitality through cuisine. The style is minimalist, extolling the aesthetics of wabi-sabi.  Like the tea ceremony, appreciation of the diningware and vessels is part of the experience. In the modern standard form, the first course consists of ichijū-sansai (one soup, three dishes), followed by the serving of sake accompanied by dish(es) plated on a square wooden bordered tray of sorts called . Sometimes another element called   is served to complement the sake, for guests who are heavier drinkers.

The tea ceremony kaiseki(懐石) is often confounded with another , which is an outgrowth of meals served at a gathering for haiku and renga composition, which turned into a term for sumptuous sake-accompanied banquet, or .

Vegetarian

Strictly vegetarian food is rare since even vegetable dishes are flavored with the ubiquitous dashi stock, usually made with katsuobushi (dried skipjack tuna flakes), and are therefore pescetarian more often than carnivorous. An exception is shōjin-ryōri (精進料理), vegetarian dishes developed by Buddhist monks. However, the advertised shōjin-ryōri at public eating places includes some non-vegetarian elements.
Regarding vegetarianism, it is worth mentioning , introduced from China by the Ōbaku sect (a sub-sect of Zen Buddhism), and which some sources still regard as part of "Japanese cuisine". The sect in Japan was founded by the priest Ingen (d. 1673), and is headquartered in Uji, Kyoto. The Japanese name for the common green bean takes after this priest who allegedly introduced the New World crop via China. An interesting aspect of the fucha-ryōri practiced at the temple is the wealth of , one example being mock-eel, made from strained tofu, with nori seaweed used expertly to mimic the black skin.  The secret ingredient used is grated gobo (burdock) roots.  

Dr. Masakazu Tada, Honorary Vice-President of the International Vegetarian Union for 25 years from 1960, stated that "Japan was vegetarian for a 1,000 years". Although this is not totally true, British journalist J. W. Robertson Scott reported in the 1920s that the society was 90% vegetarian. 50–60% of the population only ate fish on festive occasions, probably more because of poverty than for any other reason.

Rice

Rice has been the staple food for the Japanese historically. Its fundamental importance is evident from the fact that the word for cooked rice, gohan and meshi, also stands for a "meal".  While rice has a long history of cultivation in Japan, its use as a staple has not been universal. Notably, in northern areas (northern Honshū and Hokkaidō), other grain such as wheat were more common into the 19th century.

In most of Japan, rice used to be consumed for almost every meal, and although a 2007 survey showed that 70% of Japanese still eat it once or twice a day, its popularity is now declining. In the 20th century there has been a shift in dietary habits, with an increasing number of people choosing wheat based products (such as bread and noodles) over rice. 

Japanese rice is short-grained and becomes sticky when cooked. Most rice is sold as hakumai ("white rice"), with the outer portion of the grains (nuka) polished away. Unpolished brown rice (genmai) is considered less desirable, but its popularity has been increasing in recent years.

Noodles

Japanese noodles often substitute for a rice-based meal. Soba (thin, grayish-brown noodles containing buckwheat flour) and udon (thick wheat noodles) are the main traditional noodles, while ramen is a modern import and now very popular. There are also other, less common noodles.

Japanese noodles, such as soba and udon, are eaten as a standalone, and usually not with a side dish, in terms of general custom. It may have toppings, but they are called . The fried battered shrimp tempura sitting in a bowl of tempura-soba would be referred to as "the shrimp" or "the tempura", and not so much be referred to as a topping (gu). The identical toppings, if served as a dish to be eaten with plain white rice could be called okazu, so these terms are context-sensitive.

Hot noodles are usually served in a bowl already steeped in their broth and are called kakesoba or kakeudon. Cold soba arrive unseasoned and heaped atop a zaru or seiro, and are picked up with a chopstick and dunked in their dip sauce. The broth is a soy-dashi-mirin type of mix; the dip is similar but more concentrated (heavier on soy sauce).

In the simple form, yakumi (condiments and spices) such as shichimi, nori, finely chopped scallions, wasabi, etc. are added to the noodles, besides the broth/dip sauce.

Udon may also be eaten in kama-age style, piping hot straight out of the boiling pot, and eaten with plain soy sauce and sometimes with raw egg also.

Sweets

Traditional Japanese sweets are known as wagashi. Ingredients such as red bean paste and mochi are used. More modern-day tastes includes green tea ice cream, a very popular flavor. Almost all manufacturers produce a version of it. Kakigori is a shaved ice dessert flavored with syrup or condensed milk. It is usually sold and eaten at summer festivals. A dessert very popular among the children in Japan are dorayaki. They are sweet pancakes filled with a sweet red bean paste. They are mostly eaten at room temperature but are also considered very delicious hot.

See also the list of sweets.

Beverages

Tea

Green tea is produced in Japan and prepared in various forms such as matcha, the tea used in the Japanese tea ceremony. 

Beer

The most commonly consumed beers in Japan are pale-colored light lagers, with an alcohol strength of around 5.0% ABV.  Lager beers are the most commonly produced beer style in Japan, but beer-like beverages, made with lower levels of malts called "Happoushu" (発泡酒, literally, "bubbly alcohol") or non-malt Happousei (発泡性, literally "a type of bubbly alcohol") have captured a large part of the market as tax is substantially lower on these products.

Small local microbreweries have also gained increasing popularity since the 1990s, supplying distinct tasting beers in a variety of styles that seek to match the emphasis on craftsmanship, quality, and ingredient provenance often associated with Japanese food.

Sake

Sake is a brewed rice beverage that, typically, contains 15%~17% alcohol and is made by multiple fermentation of rice. At traditional formal meals, it is considered an equivalent to rice and is not simultaneously taken with other rice-based dishes, although this notion is typically no longer applied to modern, refined, premium ("ginjo") sake, which bear little resemblance to the sakes of even 100 years ago. Side dishes for sake are particularly called sakana or otsumami.

Sake is brewed in a highly labor-intensive process more similar to beer production than winemaking, hence, the common description of sake as rice "wine" is misleading.
Sake is made with, by legal definition, strictly just four ingredients: special rice, water, koji, and special yeast.

As of 2014, Japan has some 1500 registered breweries,  which produce thousands of different sakes. Sake characteristics and flavor profiles vary with regionality, ingredients, and the styles (maintained by brewmaster guilds) that brewery leaders want to produce.

Sake flavor profiles lend extremely well to pairing with a wide variety of cuisines, including non-Japanese cuisines.

Shōchū

Shōchū is a distilled spirit that is typically made from barley, sweet potato, buckwheat, or rice. Shōchū is produced everywhere in Japan, but its production started in Kyushu. 

Whisky

Japanese whisky began commercial production in the early 20th century, and is now extremely popular, primarily consumed in . It is produced in the Scottish style, with malt whisky produced since the 1980s, and has since won top international awards, since the 2000s.

Regional cuisine

Japanese cuisine offers a vast array of regional specialties known as kyōdo-ryōri (郷土料理), many of them originating from dishes prepared using traditional recipes with local ingredients. Foods from the Kanto region taste very strong. For example, the dashi-based broth for serving udon noodles is heavy on dark soy sauce, similar to soba broth.  On the other hand, Kansai region foods are lightly seasoned, with clear udon noodles   made with light soy sauce. 

Traditional table settings

The traditional Japanese table setting has varied considerably over the centuries, depending primarily on the type of table common during a given era. Before the 19th century, small individual box tables (hakozen, 箱膳) or flat floor trays were set before each diner. Larger low tables (chabudai, ちゃぶ台) that accommodated entire families were gaining popularity by the beginning of the 20th century, but these gave way to Western-style dining tables and chairs by the end of the 20th century.

Traditional Japanese table setting is to place a bowl of rice on your left and to place a bowl of miso soup on your right side at the table. Behind these, each okazu is served on its own individual plate. Based on the standard three okazu formula, behind the rice and soup are three flat plates to hold the three okazu; one to far back left, one at far back right, and one in the center. Pickled vegetables are often served on the side but are not counted as part of the three okazu.  Chopsticks are generally placed at the very front of the tray near the diner with pointed ends facing left and supported by a chopstick rest, or hashioki.

Dining etiquette

Tables and sitting

Many restaurants and homes in Japan are equipped with Western-style chairs and tables. However, traditional Japanese low tables and cushions, usually found on tatami floors, are also very common. Tatami mats, which are made of straw, can be easily damaged and are hard to clean, thus shoes or any type of footwear are always taken off when stepping on tatami floors.

When dining in a traditional tatami room, sitting upright on the floor is common. In a casual setting, men usually sit with their feet crossed and women sit with both legs to one side. Only men are supposed to sit cross-legged. The formal way of sitting for both sexes is a kneeling style known as seiza. To sit in a seiza position, one kneels on the floor with legs folded under the thighs and the buttocks resting on the heels.

When dining out in a restaurant, the customers are guided to their seats by the host. The honored or eldest guest will usually be seated at the center of the table farthest from the entrance. In the home, the most important guest is also seated farthest away from the entrance.  If there is a tokonoma, or alcove, in the room, the guest is seated in front of it.  The host sits next to or closest to the entrance.

Itadakimasu and Gochisosama

In Japan, it is customary to say itadakimasu (lit. "I  [humbly] receive") before starting to eat a meal.  When saying itadakimasu, both hands are put together in front of the chest or on the lap. Itadakimasu is preceded by complimenting the appearance of food. The Japanese attach as much importance to the aesthetic arrangement of the food as its actual taste. Before touching the food, it is polite to compliment the host on his artistry. It is also a polite custom to wait for the eldest guest at the table to start eating before the other diners start. Another customary and important etiquette is to say go-chisō-sama deshita (lit. "It was a feast") to the host after the meal and the restaurant staff when leaving.

Hot towels

Before eating, most dining places provide either a hot or cold towel or a plastic-wrapped wet napkin (o-shibori). This is for cleaning hands before eating (and not after). It is rude to use them to wash the face or any part of the body other than the hands though some Japanese men use their o-shibori to wipe their faces in less formal places. Accept o-shibori with both hands when a server hands you the towel. When finished, fold or roll up your oshibori and place it on the table. It is impolite to use o-shibori towels to wipe any spills on the table.

Bowls

The rice or the soup is eaten by picking up the bowl with the left hand and using chopsticks (hashi) with the right, or vice versa if one is left-handed. Traditionally, chopsticks were held in the right hand and the bowl in the left. Japanese children were taught to distinguish left from right as "the right hand holds the chopsticks, the left hand holds the bowl" – but left-handed eating is acceptable today. Bowls may be lifted to the mouth, but should not be touched by the mouth except when drinking soup. The Japanese customarily slurp noodle soup dishes like ramen, udon, and soba. When slurping noodles quickly, the soup clings to the noodles, making the dish more flavourful. 

Soy sauce

Soy sauce (shōyu) is not usually poured over most foods at the table; a dipping dish is usually provided. Soy sauce is, however, meant to be poured directly onto tōfu and grated daikon dishes, and in the raw egg when preparing tamago-kake-gohan ("egg on rice"). In particular, soy sauce should never be poured onto rice or into soup.

Chopsticks

The proper usage of chopsticks (hashi) is the most important table etiquette in Japan. Chopsticks are never left sticking vertically into rice, as this resembles incense sticks (which are usually placed vertically in sand) during offerings to the dead. This may easily offend some Japanese people. Using chopsticks to spear food or to point is also frowned upon and it is considered very bad manners to bite chopsticks. Other important chopsticks rules to remember include the following: 
* Hold your chopsticks towards their end, and not in the middle or the front third.
* When you are not using your chopsticks and when you are finished eating, lay them down in front of you with the tip to left.
* Do not pass food with your chopsticks directly to somebody else's chopsticks. This technique is only used at funerals, where the bones of the cremated body of the dead person are passed from person to person in this manner.
* Do not move your chopsticks around in the air too much, nor play with them.
* Do not move around plates or bowls with chopsticks.
* To separate a piece of food into two pieces, exert controlled pressure on the chopsticks while moving them apart from each other.

Communal dish

When taking food from a communal dish, unless they are family or very close friends, one should turn the chopsticks around to grab the food; it is considered more sanitary. Alternatively, one could have a separate set of chopsticks for communal dishes.

Sharing

If sharing food with someone else, move it directly from one plate to another. Never pass food from one pair of chopsticks to another, as this recalls passing bones during a funeral.

Eat what is given

It is customary to eat rice to the last grain. Being a picky eater is frowned on, and it is not customary to ask for special requests or substitutions at restaurants. It is considered ungrateful to make these requests especially in circumstances where you are being hosted, as in a business dinner environment. After eating, try to move all your dishes back to the same position they were at the start of the meal. This includes replacing the lids on dishes and putting your chopsticks on the chopstick holder or back into their paper slip. Good manners dictate that you respect the selections of the host. However, this can be set aside if you have allergies such as a peanut allergy, or a religious prohibition against certain foods like pork.

Drinking

Even in informal situations, drinking alcohol starts with a toast (kanpai, 乾杯) when everyone is ready. Do not start drinking until everybody is served and has finished the toast. It is not customary to pour oneself a drink; rather, people are expected to keep each other's drinks topped up. When someone moves to pour your drink you should hold your glass with both hands and thank them.

Dishes for special occasions

In Japanese tradition some dishes are strongly tied to a festival or event.  These dishes include:
* Botamochi, a sticky rice dumpling with sweet azuki paste served in spring, while a similar sweet Ohagi is served in autumn.
* Chimaki (steamed sweet rice cake): Tango no Sekku and Gion Festival.
* Hamo (a type of fish, often eel)  and somen: Gion Festival.
* Osechi: New Year.
* Sekihan, is red rice, which is served for any celebratory occasion. It is usually sticky rice cooked with azuki, or red bean, which gives the rice its distinctive red color. 
* Soba:  New Year's Eve. This is called toshi koshi soba (:ja:年越しそば) (literally "year crossing soba").
* Chirashizushi, Ushiojiru (clear soup of clams) and amazake: Hinamatsuri.

In some regions every 1st and 15th day of the month people eat a mixture of rice and azuki (azuki meshi (小豆飯), see Sekihan).

Imported and adapted foods

Japan has incorporated imported food from across the world (mostly from Asia, Europe and to a lesser extent the Americas), and have historically adapted many to make them their own.
* Foods imported from Portugal in the 16th century
* Other adapted cuisines in Japan

Yōshoku - Foreign (Western) food, dishes

Japan today abounds with home-grown, loosely Western-style food. Many of these were invented in the wake of the 1868 Meiji restoration and the end of national seclusion, when the sudden influx of foreign (in particular, Western) culture led to many restaurants serving Western food, known as yōshoku (洋食), a shortened form of seiyōshoku (西洋食) lit. Western cuisine, opening up in cities. Restaurants that serve these foods are called yōshokuya (洋食屋), lit. Western cuisine restaurants.

Many yōshoku items from that time have been adapted to a degree that they are now considered Japanese and are an integral part of any Japanese family menu. Many are served alongside rice and miso soup, and eaten with chopsticks. Yet, due to their origins these are still categorized as yōshoku as opposed to the more traditional washoku (和食), lit. Japanese cuisine.

Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki is a savoury pancake containing a variety of ingredients.

Tonkatsu

Tonkatsu is a breaded, deep-fried pork cutlet.

Curry

Curry was introduced to Japan by the British in the Meiji era. Japanese curry is unlike Indian or any other forms of curry. Japanese versions of curry can be found in foods such as curry udon, curry bread, and "katsu-curry", tonkatsu served with curry. They very commonly come with rice beside the curry on the dish. This can be eaten during dinner most of the time.

Ramen

Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a meat stock broth known as ramen have become extremely popular over the last century.

Chinese food is the most popular foreign cuisine throughout Japan. It is closely followed by yakiniku and Italian pasta. 

Wafū burgers

Hamburger chains include McDonald's, Burger King, First Kitchen, Lotteria and MOS Burger. Many chains developed uniquely Japanese versions of American fast food such as the teriyaki burger, kinpira rice burger, fried shrimp burgers, and green tea milkshakes.

Italian

High-class Japanese chefs have preserved many Italian seafood dishes that are forgotten in other countries. These include pasta with prawns, lobster (a specialty known in Italy as pasta all'aragosta), crab (an Italian specialty; in Japan it is served with a different species of crab), and pasta with sea urchin sauce (sea urchin pasta being a specialty of the Puglia region).

Japanese food outside Japan

Many countries have imported portions of Japanese cuisine. Some may adhere to the traditional preparations of the cuisines, but in some cultures the dishes have been adapted to fit the palate of the local populace. In 1970s sushi travelled from Japan to Canada and the United States, it was modified to suit the American palate, and re-entered the Japanese market as "American Sushi".  The example of this phenomenon is California roll, which created in Canada in 1970s, and gain its popularity across the United States by 1980s, thus sparked the Japanese food — more precisely sushi's global popularity.

In 2014, Japanese Restaurant Organization has selected potential countries where Japanese food is becoming increasingly popular, and conducted research concerning the Japanese restaurants abroad. These key nations are Taiwan, Hong Kong , China, Singapore, Thailand and Indonesia.  This was meant as an effort to promote Japanese cuisine and to expand the market of Japanese ingredients, products and foodstuffs. Numbers of Japanese foodstuff and seasoning brands such as Ajinomoto, Kikkoman, Nissin and Kewpie mayonnaise, are establishing production base in other Asian countries, such as China, Thailand and Indonesia.

Taiwan

Japan and Taiwan have shared a close historical and cultural relations. Taiwan has adapted many Japanese food items. A Taiwanese version of tempura, only barely resembling the original, is known as 天婦羅 or 甜不辣 (tianbula).  Taiwanese versions of oden is known locally as oren (黑輪) or 關東煮 Kwantung stew.

China

Ramen, of Chinese origin, has been exported back to China in recent years where it is known as ri shi la mian (日式拉麵, "Japanese lamian"). Japanese ramen chains serve ramen alongside distinctly Japanese dishes such as tempura and yakitori.  Skewered versions of oden is a common convenience store item in Shanghai where it is known as aódiǎn (熬点).

Thailand

In Southeast Asia, Thailand is the largest market for Japanese food. This is partly because Thailand is a popular tourist destination, having large numbers of Japanese expatriats, as well as local population has developed a taste for authentic Japanese cuisine. According to the Organisation that Promote Japanese Restaurants Abroad (JRO), the number of Japanese restaurants in Thailand jumped about 2.2-fold from 2007's figures to 1,676 in June 2012. In Bangkok, Japanese restaurants accounts for 8.3 percent of all restaurants, following those that serve Thai.  Numbers of Japanese chain restaurants has established their business in Thailand, such as Yoshinoya gyudon restaurant chain, Gyu-Kaku yakiniku restaurant chain and Kourakuen ramen restaurant chain.

Indonesia

In the ASEAN region, Indonesia is the second largest market for Japanese food, after Thailand. Japanese cuisine has been increasingly popular as the growth of the Indonesians middle-class expecting higher quality foods. This is also contributed to the fact that Indonesia has large numbers of Japanese expatriates. The main concern is the halal issue. As a Muslim majority country, Indonesians expected that Japanese food served there are halal according to Islamic dietary law, which means no pork and alcohol allowed.

In some cases, Japanese cuisine in Indonesia often slanted to suit Indonesian taste. Hoka Hoka Bento in particular is Indonesian-owned Japanese fastfood restaurant chain that cater to Indonesian clientele. As the result the foods served there have been adapted to suit Indonesians' taste. Examples of the change include stronger flavour compared to authentic subtle Japanese taste, the preference for fried food, as well as the addition of sambal to cater to Indonesians' preference for hot and spicy food. Japanese food popularity also had penetrated street food culture, as modest Warjep or Warung Jepang (Japanese food stall) offer Japanese food such as tempura and takoyaki, at very moderately low prices. This is also pushed further by the Japanese convenience stores operating in Indonesia, such as 7-Eleven and Lawson offering Japanese favourites such as oden, chicken katsu (deep-fried chicken cutlet), chicken teriyaki and onigiri. Some chefs in Indonesian sushi establishment has created a Japanese-Indonesian fusion cuisine, such as krakatau roll, gado-gado roll, rendang roll and gulai ramen.  Nevertheless, some of these Japanese eating establishments might strive to serve the authenthic Japanese cuisine abroad. 

Philippines

In the Philippines, Japanese cuisine has always been popular with Filipino people, and Filipino people have always been huge fans of Japanese cuisine.  The Philippines have very big influences from the Japanese people, Indian culture, and Chinese influences.   The cities of Davao and Metro Manila have especially have probably the most Japanese influence in the country.  In Metro Manila, it is not surprising to see Japanese-Filipino fusion cuisine from things like Manila Maki and the Laguna Roll. Several Japanese restaurants have been put up in Manila and other parts of the country, with Filipinos gauging the authenticity of the place based on the number of its Japanese customers, and Filipinos who are not that fussy, meanwhile, are happy with Japanese fast food chains with eat-all-you-can rice and fusion restaurants.  The most popular dining spots for Japanese nationals are located in Makati City, where you can find Little Tokyo, a small area filled with restaurants specializing in different types of Japanese food.  Some of the best Japanese restaurants in the Philippines are no-frills affairs are found in Little Tokyo. Zen gardens, red lanterns and Japanese signs almost give the impression that you're in Japan. Restaurants here are generally owned by Japanese people who have moved to the country to start families with Filipino wives. 

Australia

Japanese cuisine is very popular in Australia, and Australians are becoming increasingly familiar with traditional Japanese foods.  Restaurants serving Japanese cuisine feature prominently in popular rankings, including Gourmet Traveller and The Good Food Guide. 

Sushi in particular has been described as being "as popular as sandwiches", particularly in large cities like Melbourne, Sydney, or Brisbane.  As such, sushi bars are a mainstay in shopping centre food courts, and are extremely common in cities and towns all over the country.

United Kingdom

Japanese food restaurant chains in the UK include Wagamama, YO! Sushi, Nudo Sushi Box and Kokoro.

Canada

In Canada, Japanese cuisine has become quite popular. Sushi, sashimi, and instant ramen are highly popular at opposite ends of the income scale, with instant ramen being a common low-budget meal. Sushi and sashimi takeout began in Toronto and Vancouver, but is now common throughout Canada. The largest supermarket chains all carry basic sushi and sashimi, and Japanese ingredients and instant ramen are readily available in most supermarkets. Most mid-sized mall food courts feature fast-food teppan cooking. Izakaya restaurants have gained a surge of popularity.

United States

United States-developed popular makizushi California roll has been influential in sushi's global popularity;   the country has about 4,200 sushi restaurants.  It is one of the most popular styles of sushi in the US market. Japanese cuisine is an integral part of food culture in Hawaii as well as in other parts of the United States. Popular items are sushi, sashimi, and teriyaki. Kamaboko, known locally as fish cake, is a staple of saimin, a noodle soup. Sushi, long regarded as quite exotic in the west until the 1970s, has become a popular health food in parts of North America, Western Europe and Asia.

Mexico

In Mexico, certain Japanese restaurants have created what is known as "Sushi Mexicano", in which spicy sauces and ingredients accompany the dish or are integrated in sushi rolls. The habanero and serrano chiles have become nearly standard and are referred to as chiles toreados, as they are fried, diced and tossed over a dish upon request. A popular sushi topping, "Tampico", is made by blending chiles, mayonnaise, and imitation crab. Cream cheese and avocado is usually added to makizushi. 

Brazil

In Brazil, Japanese food is widespread due to the large Japanese-Brazilian population living in the country, which represents the largest Japanese community living outside Japan. Over the past years, many restaurant chains such as Koni Store  have opened, selling typical dishes such as the popular temaki. Yakisoba, which is readily available in all supermarkets, and often included in non-Japanese restaurant menus.

Cultural heritage

In February 2012, the Agency for Cultural Affairs recommended that 'Washoku: Traditional Dietary Cultures of the Japanese' be added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.  On December 4, 2013, "Washoku, traditional dietary cultures of the Japanese, notably for the celebration of New Year" was added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage, bringing Japanese assets listed on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list to 22. Raw foodism (or following a raw food diet) is the dietary practice of eating only uncooked, unprocessed foods. Depending on the philosophy, or type of lifestyle and results desired, raw food diets may include a selection of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, eggs, fish, meat and dairy products. 

It may also include simply processed foods such as various types of sprouted seeds, cheese, and fermented foods such as yogurts, kefir, kombucha or sauerkraut, but generally not foods that have been pasteurized, homogenized, or produced with the use of synthetic pesticides, chemical fertilizers, industrial solvents or chemical food additives.

Varieties

Raw food diets are diets composed entirely of food that is uncooked or which is cooked at low temperatures.

Raw veganism

A raw vegan diet consists of unprocessed, raw plant foods, that have not been heated above . Raw vegans such as Brian Clement, Gabriel Cousens, Thierry Browers a.k.a. "Superlight", and Douglas Graham  believe that foods cooked above this temperature have lost much of their nutritional value and are less healthy or even harmful to the body. Advocates argue that raw or living foods have natural enzymes, which are critical in building proteins and rebuilding the body, and that heating these foods destroys the natural enzymes and can leave toxic materials behind. However, critics point out that enzymes, as with other proteins consumed in the diet, are denatured and eventually lysed by the digestive process, rendering them non-functional. Typical foods included in raw food diets are fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, and sprouted grains and legumes.

Among raw vegans there are some subgroups such as fruitarians, juicearians, or sproutarians. Fruitarians eat primarily or exclusively fruits, berries, seeds, and nuts. Juicearians process their raw plant foods into juice. Sproutarians adhere to a diet consisting mainly of sprouted seeds.

Raw vegetarianism

Vegetarianism is a diet that excludes meat (including game and byproducts like gelatin), fish (including shellfish and other sea animals) and poultry, but allows dairy and/or eggs. Common foods include fruit, vegetables, sprouts, nuts, seeds, grains, legumes, dairy, eggs and honey. There are several variants of this diet. 

Raw animal food diets

Included in raw animal food diets are any food that can be eaten raw, such as uncooked, unprocessed raw muscle-meats/organ-meats/eggs, raw dairy, and aged, raw animal foods such as century eggs, fermented meat/fish/shellfish/kefir, as well as vegetables/fruits/nuts/sprouts/honey, but in general not raw grains, raw beans, and raw soy. Raw foods included on such diets have not been heated above 40 °C.  Raw animal foodists believe that foods cooked above this temperature have lost a lot of their nutritional value and are less bioavailable.

Examples of raw animal food diets include the Primal Diet,   Anopsology (otherwise known as "Instinctive Eating" or "Instincto"), and the Raw Paleolithic diet  (otherwise known as the "Raw Meat Diet"). 
	
The Primal Diet consists of fatty meats, organ meats, dairy, honey, minimal fruit and vegetable juices, and coconut products, all raw.

The "Raw Meat Diet", otherwise known as the "Raw, Paleolithic Diet",  is a raw version of the (cooked) Paleolithic Diet, incorporating large amounts of raw animal foods such as meats/organ-meats, seafood, eggs, and some raw plant-foods, but usually avoiding non-Paleo foods such as raw dairy, grains, and legumes.

A number of traditional aboriginal diets consisted of large quantities of raw meats, organ meats, and berries, including the traditional diet of the Nenets tribe of Siberia and the Inuit people.   

File:Kefir-insieme.jpg|Kefir preparation
Image:Sashimi.jpg|A sashimi dinner set

History

In the 1830s, Presbyterian minister Sylvester Graham promoted dietary principles similar to the raw food diet as a proposed cure for the then-current cholera epidemic threatening to strike the United States. Graham, most noted for the famous graham cracker, claimed chronic disease in general and cholera in particular could be prevented by drinking pure water and eating simple fresh food not complicated or compounded by culinary practices.  Graham saw such simple fare as a method to cure lust; for Graham, an unhealthy diet stimulated excessive sexual desire which irritated the body and caused disease.

Raw food as a dietary health treatment was first developed in Switzerland by medical doctor Maximilian Bircher-Benner, inventor of muesli. After recovering from jaundice while eating raw apples, he conducted experiments into the effects on human health of raw vegetables. In November 1897, he opened a sanatorium in Zurich called "Vital Force," named after a "key term from the German lifestyle reform movement, which states that people should pattern their lives after the logic determined by nature". 

Weston A. Price, in a 1939 work titled Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, observed dental degeneration in the first generation abandoning traditional nutrient-dense foods, which included unprocessed raw milk. Price claimed that the parents of such first-generation children had excellent jaw development and dental health, while their children had malocclusion and tooth decay and attributed this to their new modern diet insufficient in nutrients.  Price also noted, in his book, that the healthiest tribes he visited all incorporated some raw animal foods in their diets.

Other notable proponents from the early part of this century include Ann Wigmore, Norman W. Walker (inventor of the Norwalk Juicing Press), and Herbert Shelton. Shelton was arrested, jailed, and fined numerous times for practicing medicine without a license during his career as an advocate of rawism and other alternative health and diet philosophies.  Shelton's legacy, as popularized by books like Fit for Life by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond, has been deemed "pseudonutrition" by the National Council Against Health Fraud. 

Leslie Kenton's book Raw Energy - Eat Your Way to Radiant Health, published in 1984, popularized food such as sprouts, seeds, and fresh vegetable juices.  The book brought together research into raw foodism and its support of health. It cites examples such as the sprouted-seed-enriched diets of the long-lived Hunza people and Gerson therapy, an unhealthy, dangerous and potentially very harmful  raw juice-based diet and detoxification regime claimed to treat cancer.  The book advocates a diet of 75% raw food which it claims will prevent degenerative diseases, slow the effects of aging, provide enhanced energy, and boost emotional balance.

Claims

Claims held by raw food proponents include:
* That heating food above 104-118 °Fahrenheit (40-49 °C) starts to degrade and destroy the enzymes in raw food that aid digestion.   A few raw food proponents such as Douglas Graham dispute the importance of enzymes in foods. 
* That raw foods have higher nutrient values than foods that have been cooked.   
* That wild foods followed by organic whole foods are more nutritious than conventionally domesticated foods or industrially produced foods. 
* That cooked foods contain harmful toxins, which can cause chronic disease and other problems,   Processing oils and fats can produce harmful trans fatty acids.   Cooking foods produces advanced glycation end products ("glycotoxins", see also Maillard reaction).
* That raw foods such as fruits and vegetables are high in antioxidants, which raw-food proponents claim can help to stifle signs of aging.  Dr. Joel Fuhrman, author of "Eat To Live", says that uncooked cruciferous vegetables have the most powerful anti-cancer effects of all foods. He also says that most of the phytonutrients function as antioxidants in the body, meaning they neutralize free radicals, rendering them harmless and reducing cancer risk. Raw food proponents claim that this property found in alkaline living foods or raw food, which neutralizes free radicals, makes green smoothies a powerful antioxidant drink.

Food preparation

Many foods in raw food diets are simple to prepare, such as fruits, salads, meat, and dairy. Other foods can require considerable advanced planning to prepare for eating. Rice and some other grains, for example, require sprouting or overnight soaking to become digestible. Raw food proponents claim it is best to soak nuts and seeds before eating them, to activate their enzymes, and deactivate enzyme inhibitors. 

Some claim Freezing food is acceptable, even though freezing lowers enzyme activity. Others claim freezing is harmful,   though not as unhealthy as cooking.

Research

A study surveying people practicing raw vegan diets of varying intensities found that 30% of the women under age 45 had partial to complete amenorrhoea and that "subjects eating high amounts of raw food (> 90%) were affected more frequently than moderate raw food dieters". The study concluded that since many raw food dieters were underweight and exhibited amenorrhoea "a very strict raw vegan diet cannot be recommended on a long-term basis". 

A meta-analysis of scientific studies from 1994 to 2004 concluded there to be an inverse correlation between the risk of developing certain types of cancer and eating both raw and cooked vegetables. Consumption of raw vegetables tended to be associated with decreased cancer risks somewhat more often than consumption of cooked vegetables.   The majority of studies included show an inverse association between both raw and cooked vegetables and cancer.  On the other hand, certain studies have indicated detrimental health effects stemming from raw vegan diets.   A 2005 study has shown that a raw vegan diet is associated with a lower bone density.  One study of raw vegan diets shows amenorrhea and underweightness in women.  Another one indicates an increased risk of dental erosion with a raw vegan diet. 

Potential harmful effects of cooking

Compounds created by cooking 

Several studies published since 1990 indicate that cooking muscle meat creates heterocyclic amines (HCAs).  High rates of HCA can cause cancer in other animals; whether such an exposure causes cancer in humans remains unclear.  Researchers at the National Cancer Institute found that human subjects having eaten beef rare or medium-rare had less than one-third the risk of stomach cancer as those having eaten beef medium-well or well-done. While eating muscle meat raw may be the only way to avoid HCAs fully, the National Cancer Institute states that cooking meat below 212 F creates "negligible amounts" of HCAs. Also, microwaving meat before cooking may substantially reduce HCAs.

Although microwave cooking may lead to reduced HCA levels in cooked meat products, Raw Foodists do not consider it any more favorable than other forms of cooking.  Microwaving has been shown to cause a great decrease in all studied antioxidants in broccoli, compared to other cooking methods.   Microwaving has also been shown to reduce vitamin B12 levels in beef, pork, and milk by 30-40%.  Breast milk is commonly stored cold, and reheated before use.  Using the microwave for this purpose has been shown to significantly reduce the anti-infective factors in human milk.  

Nitrosamines, formed by cooking and preserving in salt and smoking, have been linked to colon cancer and stomach cancer.  

Cooking also creates certain heat-created toxic compounds, advanced glycation end products, otherwise known as AGEs. This reaction occurs both within the body and external to the body. Many cells in the body (for example endothelial cells, smooth muscle cells, and cells of the immune system) from tissue such as lung, liver, kidney, and peripheral blood bear the receptor for advanced glycation end-products (RAGE) that, when binding AGEs, contributes to age- and diabetes-related chronic inflammatory diseases,   such as atherosclerosis, renal failure,    arthritis, myocardial infarction,  macular degeneration,  cardiovascular disease,  nephropathy,  retinopathy,  or neuropathy.  Excretion of dietary AGEs is reduced in diabetics and lowering AGE intake may greatly reduce the impact of AGEs in diabetic patients and possibly improve prognosis.

Also, toxic compounds called PAHs,  or Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, are formed by cooking.   They are known to be carcinogenic and an industrial pollutant.  

Acrylamide in a substance found at high levels in certain cooked foods, such as potato chips (crisps) and bread when heated higher than 120 C., and in black olives,  prunes,  dried pears, and coffee.   According to the American Cancer Society it is not clear, , whether acrylamide consumption affects people's risk of getting cancer. Acrylamide has known toxic effects on the nervous system and on fertility; however, the World Health Organization concluded in 2002 that the intake level required to observe neuropathy (0.5 mg/kg body weight/day) was 500 times higher than the average dietary intake, and 2,000 times higher for effects on fertility.  The FDA has measured it in many foods.  , however, the UK Food Standards Agency has warned against acrylamide in cooked foods.

Effect of cooking on digestibility and allergy

Contrary to a belief frequently held by raw foodists (that "heating food above 104-120 °Fahrenheit (40-49 °C) degrades or destroys the enzymes in raw food that aid digestion) many enzymes central to digestion actually work optimally at temperatures exceeding this range (e.g. alpha amylase works best at 161-169 °F, beta amylase at 140-149 °F, and protease at 113 °F-122 °F)

There are various scientific reports, such as one by the Nutrition Society,  which describe in detail the loss of vitamins and minerals caused by cooking.

Another study has shown that meat heated for 10 minutes at 130 °C, showed a 1.5% decrease in protein digestibility.  Similar heating of hake meat in the presence of potato starch, soy oil, and salt caused a 6% decrease in amino acid content. 

Frying chickpeas, oven-heating winged beans, or roasting cereals at 200 - reduces protein digestibility.

One study, comparing the effects of consuming either pasteurized, or homogenized/pasteurized, or unpasteurized milk, showed that pasteurized and homogenized/pasteurized milk might increase allergic reactions in patients allergic to milk. 

Cooking and global warming

It has also been pointed out that cooking food, directly or indirectly, requires energy and may thus release gases associated with global warming.  Raw diets mitigate the use of non-renewable resources, which results in raw diets being less environmentally deleterious than cooked food diets in this respect.

Nutritional deficiencies in raw vegan diets

Care is required in planning a raw vegan diet, especially for children.  Dr. Joel Fuhrman, author of Disease-Proof Your Child, says there may not be enough vitamin B12, enough vitamin D, and enough calories for a growing child on a totally raw vegan diet. Fuhrman fed his own four children raw and cooked vegetables, fruits, nuts, grains, beans, and occasionally eggs. 

Food poisoning

Food poisoning is a health risk for all people eating raw foods, and increased demand for raw foods is associated with greater incidence of foodborne illness,  especially for raw meat, fish, and shellfish.   Outbreaks of gastroenteritis among consumers of raw and undercooked animal products (including smoked, pickled or dried animal products) are well-documented, and include raw meat,   raw organ meat, raw fish (whether ocean-going or freshwater), shellfish,  raw milk and products made from raw milk,    and raw eggs. 

In his book Health or Hoax, nutritionist Arnold E. Bender has written that "Many raw foods are toxic and only become safe  after they have been cooked. Some raw foods contain substances that destroy vitamins, interfere with digestive enzymes or damage the walls of the intestine. Raw meat can be contaminated with bacteria which would be destroyed by cooking; raw fish can contain substances that interfere with vitamin B1 (anti-thiaminases)" 

Controversies

Richard Wrangham, a primate researcher and professor of anthropology, has suggested that eating cooked food is more "natural" for the human digestive system, because the human digestive system may have evolved to deal with cooked foods.   Wrangham thinks that cooking explains the increase in hominid brain sizes, smaller digestive tract, smaller teeth and jaws and decrease in sexual dimorphism that occurred roughly 1.8 million years ago.
Most other anthropologists oppose Wrangham,  stating that archaeological evidence suggests that cooking fires began in earnest only c.250,000 years ago, when ancient hearths, earth ovens, burnt animal bones, and flint appear across Europe and the Middle East. Two million years ago, the only sign of fire is burnt earth with human remains, which most other anthropologists consider to be mere coincidence rather than evidence of intentional fire.  The mainstream view among anthropologists    is that the increases in human brain-size occurred well before the advent of cooking, due to a shift away from the consumption of nuts and berries to the consumption of raw meat. Fish are consumed as food by many species, including humans. It has been an important source of protein and other nutrients for humans throughout recorded history.

In culinary and fishery contexts, the term fish can also include shellfish, such as molluscs, crustaceans and echinoderms. English does not distinguish between fish as an animal and the food prepared from it, as it does with pig vs. pork or cow vs. beef.  Some other languages do, as in the Spanish peces versus pescado. The modern English word for fish comes from the Old English word fisc (plural: fiscas) which was pronounced as it is today. English also has the term seafood, which covers fish found in the seas and oceans as well as other marine life used as food.

Species

Over 32,000 species of fish have been described,  making them the most diverse group of vertebrates. In addition, there are many species of shellfish. However, only a small number of species are commonly eaten by humans.

Preparation

Fish can be prepared in a variety of ways. It can be uncooked (raw) (cf. sashimi). It can be cured by marinating (cf. ceviche), pickling (cf. pickled herring), or smoking (cf. smoked salmon). Or it can be cooked by baking, frying (cf. fish and chips), grilling, poaching (cf. court-bouillon), or steaming. Many of the preservation techniques used in different cultures have since become unnecessary but are still performed for their resulting taste and texture when consumed.

Nutritional value

"Fish provides a good source of high quality protein and contains many vitamins and minerals. It may be classed as either whitefish, oily fish, or shellfish. Whitefish, such as haddock and seer, contain very little fat (usually less than 1%) whereas oily fish, such as sardines, contain between 10-25%. The latter, as a result of its high fat content, contain a range of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E and K) and essential fatty acids, all of which are vital for the healthy functioning of the body."Fellows P and Hampton A (Eds.) (1992) [http://www.fao.org/Wairdocs/X5434E/x5434e0f.htm#11.%20fish%20and%20fish%20products Fish and fish products] Chapter 11 in: Small-scale food processing - A guide for appropriate equipment Intermediate Technology Publications, FAO, Rome. ISBN 1 85339 108 5.

Health benefits

Research over the past few decades has shown that the nutrients and minerals in fish, and particularly the omega-3 fatty acids found in pelagic fishes, are heart-friendly and can make improvements in brain development and reproduction. This has highlighted the role for fish in the functionality of the human body. 

Health hazards

Fish is the most common food to obstruct the airway and cause choking. Choking on fish was responsible for about 4,500 reported accidents in the UK in 1998. 

Allergens

A seafood allergy is a hypersensitivity to an allergen which can be present in fish, and particularly in shellfish. This can result in an overreaction of the immune system and lead to severe physical symptoms.  Most people who    have a food allergy also have a seafood allergy.  Allergic reactions can result from ingesting seafood, or by breathing in vapours from preparing or cooking seafood.  The most severe seafood allergy reaction is anaphylaxis, an emergency requiring immediate attention. It is treated with epinephrine. 

Biotoxins

Some species of fish, notably the puffer fugu used for sushi, and some kinds of shellfish, can result in serious poisoning if not prepared properly. These fish always contain these poisons as a defense against predators; it is not present due to environmental circumstances. Particularly, fugu has a lethal dose of tetrodotoxin in its internal organs and must be prepared by a licensed fugu chef who has passed the national examination in Japan. Ciguatera poisoning can occur from eating larger fish from warm tropical waters, such as sea bass, grouper, and red snapper.[https://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002851.htm Poisoning - fish and shellfish] US National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 21 July 2012. Scombroid poisoning can result from eating large oily fish which have sat around for too long before being refrigerated or frozen. This includes scombroids such as tuna and mackerel, but can also include non-scombroids such as mahi-mahi and amberjack. The poison is odourless and tasteless.

Many fish eat algae and other organisms that contain biotoxins (defensive substances against predators). Biotoxins accumulated in fish/shellfish include brevetoxins, okadaic acid, saxitoxins, ciguatoxin and domoic acid. Except for ciguatoxine, high levels of these toxins are only found in shellfish. Both domoic acid and ciguatoxine can be deadly to humans; the others will only cause diarrhea, dizzyness and a (temporary) feeling of claustrophobia.  

Shellfish are filter feeders and, therefore, accumulate toxins produced by microscopic algae, such as dinoflagellates and diatoms, and cyanobacteria. There are four syndromes called shellfish poisoning which can result in humans, sea mammals, and birds from the ingestion of toxic shellfish. These are primarily associated with bivalve molluscs, such as mussels, clams, oysters and scallops.  Fish, like anchovies can also concentrate toxins such as domoic acid.  If suspected, medical attention should be sought.

The  toxins responsible for most shellfish and fish poisonings, including ciguatera and scombroid poisoning, are heat-resistant to the point where conventional cooking methods do not eliminate them.

Mercury and other toxic metals

Fish products have been shown to contain varying amounts of heavy or toxic metals. Toxicity is a function of solubility, and insoluble compounds often exhibit negligible toxicity. Organometallic forms such as dimethyl mercury and tetraethyl lead can be extremely toxic.

According to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the risk from mercury by eating fish and shellfish is not a health concern for most people. However, certain seafood contains sufficient mercury to harm an unborn baby or young child's developing nervous system. The FDA makes three recommendations for child-bearing women and young children:
# Do not eat shark, swordfish, king mackerel, or tilefish because they contain high levels of mercury.
# Eat up to 12 ounces (2 average meals) a week of a variety of fish and shellfish that are lower in mercury. Four of the most commonly eaten fish that are low in mercury are canned light tuna, salmon, pollock, and catfish. Another commonly eaten fish, albacore ("white tuna") has more mercury than canned light tuna. So, when choosing your two meals of fish and shellfish, you may eat up to 6 ounces (one average meal) of albacore tuna per week.
# Check local advisories about the safety of fish caught by family and friends in your local lakes, rivers, and coastal areas. If no advice is available, eat up to 6 ounces (one average meal) per week of fish you catch from local waters, but don't consume any other fish during that week.

These recommendations are also advised when feeding fish and shellfish to young children, but in smaller portions.

Mislabelling

When the ocean conservation organization Oceana examined over 1,200 seafood samples of seafood sold in the U.S between 2010 and 2012, they found one-third were mislabelled. The highest rate of mislabelling occurred with snapper at 87 percent, followed by tuna at 57 percent. 

Persistent organic pollutants

If fish and shellfish inhabit polluted waters, they can accumulate other toxic chemicals, particularly fat-soluble pollutants containing chlorine or bromine, dioxins or PCBs.  Fish that is to be eaten should be caught in unpolluted water. Some organisations such as SeafoodWatch, RIKILT, Environmental Defense Fund, IMARES provide information on species that do not accumulate much toxins/metals.    

Parasites

Parasites in fish are a natural occurrence and common. Though not a health concern in thoroughly cooked fish, parasites are a concern when consumers eat raw or lightly preserved fish such as sashimi, sushi, ceviche, and gravlax. The popularity of such raw fish dishes makes it important for consumers to be aware of this risk. Raw fish should be frozen to an internal temperature of −20 °C (−4 °F) for at least 7 days to kill parasites. Home freezers may not be cold enough to kill parasites.  

Traditionally, fish that live all or part of their lives in fresh water were considered unsuitable for sashimi due to the possibility of parasites (see Sashimi article). Parasitic infections from freshwater fish are a serious problem in some parts of the world, particularly Southeast Asia. Fish that spend part of their life cycle in brackish or fresh water, like salmon, are a particular problem. A study in Seattle, Washington showed that 100% of wild salmon had roundworm larvae capable of infecting people. In the same study farm-raised salmon did not have any roundworm larvae. 

Parasite infection by raw fish is rare in the developed world (fewer than 40 cases per year in the U.S.), and involves mainly three kinds of parasites: Clonorchis sinensis (a trematode/fluke), Anisakis (a nematode/roundworm) and Diphyllobothrium (a cestode/tapeworm). Infection risk of anisakis is particularly higher in fishes which may live in a river such as salmon (sake) in Salmonidae or mackerel (saba). Such parasite infections can generally be avoided by boiling, burning, preserving in salt or vinegar, or freezing overnight. In Japan it is common to eat raw salmon and ikura, but these foods are frozen overnight prior to eating to prevent infections from parasites, particularly anisakis.

Fish, meat and vegetarians

Meat is animal flesh that is used as food.  Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat, but it may also describe other edible organs and tissues. The term meat is used by the meat packing industry in a more restrictive sense—the flesh of mammalian species (pigs, cattle, etc.) raised and prepared for human consumption, to the exclusion of fish and poultry.

Vegetarians do not eat fish, and consider that fish is meat, since it is the flesh of an animal. Vegans or strict vegetarians refrain from consuming any animal products, not only meat and fish but, in contrast to ovo-lacto vegetarians, eggs, dairy products and all other animal-derived substances.

However, pescetarians eat fish and other seafood, but not mammals and birds. The Merriam-Webster dictionary dates the origin of the term pescetarian to 1993 and defines it to mean: "one whose diet includes fish but no other meat."Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary. 2009. "pescatarian." [Online] Merriam Webster, Inc. Available at [http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pescatarian http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/pescatarian] [Accessed 17 July 2009] Pescatarians may consume fish based solely upon the idea that the fish are not factory farmed as land animals are (i.e., their problem is with the capitalist-industrial production of meat, not with the consumption of animal foods themselves).  Some eat fish with the justification that fish have less sophisticated nervous systems than land-dwelling animals. Others may choose to consume only wild fish based upon the lack of confinement, while choosing to not consume fish that have been farmed.

A 1999 metastudy combined data from five studies from western countries. The metastudy reported mortality ratios, where lower numbers indicated fewer deaths, for pescetarians (fish eaters) to be 0.82, vegetarians to be 0.84, occasional meat eaters to be 0.84. Regular meat eaters and vegans shared the highest mortality ratio of 1.00. The study reported the numbers of deaths in each category, and expected error ranges for each ratio, and adjustments made to the data. However, the "lower mortality was due largely to the relatively low prevalence of smoking in these [vegetarian] cohorts". 

In religion

Religious rites and rituals regarding food also tend to classify the birds of the air and the fish of the sea separately from land-bound mammals.  Sea-bound mammals are often treated as fish under religious laws - as in Jewish dietary law, which forbids the eating of cetacean meat, such as  whale, dolphin or porpoise, because they are not "fish with fins and scales"; nor, as mammals, do they chew their cud and have cloven hooves, as required by . Jewish (kosher) practice treat fish differently from other animal foods. The distinction between fish and "meat" is codified by the Jewish dietary law of kashrut, regarding the mixing of milk and meat, which does not forbid the mixing of milk and fish. Modern Jewish legal practice (halakha) on kashrut classifies the flesh of both mammals and birds as "meat"; fish are considered to be parve, neither meat nor a dairy food. (The preceding portion refers only to the halakha of Ashkenazi Jews, Sephardic Jews do not mix fish with dairy)

Seasonal religious prohibitions against eating meat do not usually include fish. For example, non-fish meat was forbidden during Lent and on all Fridays of the year in pre-Vatican II Roman Catholicism, but fish was permitted (as were eggs). (See Fasting in Catholicism.) In Eastern Orthodoxy, fish is permitted on some fast days when other meat is forbidden, but stricter fast days also prohibit fish with spines, while permitting invertebrate seafood such as shrimp and oysters, considering them "fish without blood."

Some Buddhists and Hindus (Brahmins of West Bengal, Odisha and Saraswat Brahmins of the Konkan) abjure meat that is not fish. Muslim (halal) practice also treats fish differently from other animal foods, as it can be eaten.

Taboos on eating fish

Among the Somali people, most clans have a taboo against the consumption of fish, and do not intermarry with the few occupational clans that do eat it.  

There are taboos on eating fish among many upland pastoralists and agriculturalists (and even some coastal peoples) inhabiting parts of southeastern Egypt, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia, Kenya, and northern Tanzania. This is sometimes referred to as the "Cushitic fish-taboo", as Cushitic speakers are believed to have been responsible for the introduction of fish avoidance to East Africa, though not all Cushitic groups avoid fish. The zone of the fish taboo roughly coincides with the area where Cushitic languages are spoken, and as a general rule, speakers of Nilo-Saharan and Semitic languages do not have this taboo, and indeed many are watermen.  The few Bantu and Nilotic groups in East Africa that do practice fish avoidance also reside in areas where Cushites appear to have lived in earlier times. Within East Africa, the fish taboo is found no further than Tanzania. This is attributed to the local presence of the tsetse fly and in areas beyond, which likely acted as a barrier to further southern migrations by wandering pastoralists, the principal fish-avoiders. Zambia and Mozambique's Bantus were therefore spared subjugation by pastoral groups, and they consequently nearly all consume fish.

There is also another center of fish avoidance in Southern Africa, among mainly Bantu speakers. It is not clear whether this disinclination developed independently or whether it was introduced. It is certain, however, that no avoidance of fish occurs among southern Africa's earliest inhabitants, the Khoisan. Nevertheless, since the Bantu of southern Africa also share various cultural traits with the pastoralists further north in East Africa, it is believed that, at an unknown date, the taboo against the consumption of fish was similarly introduced from East Africa by cattle-herding peoples who somehow managed to get their livestock past the aforementioned tsetse fly endemic regions.

Certain species of fish are also forbidden in Judaism such as the freshwater eel (Anguillidae) and all species of catfish. Although they live in water, they appear to have no fins or scales (except under a microscope) (see Leviticus 11:10-13 ). Sunni Muslim laws are more flexible in this and catfish and shark are generally seen as halal as they are special types of fish. Eel is generally considered permissible in the four Sunni madh'hab, but the Ja'fari jurisprudence followed by most Shia Muslims forbids it.   

Many tribes of the Southwestern United States, including the Navaho, Apache, and Zuñi, have a taboo against fish and other water-related animals, including waterfowl. 

Dishes

* Bokkoms
* Bouillabaisse
* Bourdeto
* Ceviche
* Cioppino
* Crab stick
* Crappit heid
* Croquette
* Curanto
* Dressed herring
* Fish and chips
* Fish ball
* Fish slice
* Fishcake
* Fish chowder
* Fishstick
* Gefilte fish
* Kamaboko
* Kipper
* Lox
* Paella
* Poke (Hawaii)
* Pompano en Papillote
* Quenelles Lyonnaises
* Rakfisk
* Remoulade
* Rissole
* Sashimi
* Seafood birdsnest
* Smoked salmon
* Soused herring
* Stargazy pie
* Surimi
* Surströmming
* Sushi
* Tuna fish sandwich
* Ukha A dip or dipping sauce is a common condiment for many types of food.  Dips are used to add flavor or texture to a food, such as pita bread, dumplings, crackers, cut-up raw vegetables, fruits, seafood, cubed pieces of meat and cheese, potato chips, tortilla chips, and falafel. Unlike other sauces, instead of applying the sauce to the food, the food is typically put, dipped, or added into the dipping sauce (hence the name).

Dips are commonly used for finger foods, appetizers, and other easily held foods. Thick dips based on sour cream, crème fraiche, milk, yogurt, mayonnaise, soft cheese, or beans are a staple of American hors d'oeuvres and are thinner than spreads which can be thinned to make dips.   Alton Brown suggests that a dip is defined based on its ability to "maintain contact with its transport mechanism over three feet of white carpet". 

Dips in various forms are eaten all over the world and people have been using sauces for dipping for thousands of years.[http://books.google.com/books?idAoWlCmNDA3QC&pg
PA145 The Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink]. p. 145.

List of common dips

Some types of dip include:
* Aioli, the garlic version of mayonnaise.
* Ajika, a spicy, subtly flavoured dip in Caucasian cuisine, based on hot red pepper, garlic, herbs and spices.
* Ajvar, made from red bell peppers with garlic, found in Serbian cuisine
* Artichoke dip, uses artichoke as a primary ingredient. Some versions are served chunky, while others are puréed and have a smooth texture
* Baba ghanoush, a dip made from eggplant. It is popular in the Eastern Mediterranean and parts of South Asia.
* Bagna càuda, a regional dish of the Italian Piedmont; it is composed of garlic, anchovies, oil and dairy, and is served with assorted vegetables for dipping. 
* Barbecue sauce, a common sauce either tomato, vinegar, or mustard based, often used for grilled and fried meats, and french fries in the United States.
* Bean dip, dip made from refried beans
* Blue cheese dressing is usually made from mayonnaise, sour cream, yogurt, blue cheese, milk, vinegar, onion powder, dry mustard, and garlic powder. It is commonly used as a dip for raw vegetables or buffalo wings.
* Buffalo sauce, made from vinegar-based pepper (usually cayenne) hot sauce, is often used as both a coating for buffalo wings as well as a standalone dipping sauce for other foods.
* Chile con queso, a dip of melted cheese and chili peppers used in Tex Mex cuisine with tortilla chips. 
* Chili oil is used as a dipping sauce for meat and dim sum.
* Chocolate, a dip for various fruits, doughnuts, profiteroles and marshmallows.
* Chutney, any of a wide variety of sauces with origins in the sub-continent of India, from freshly chopped herbs in yogurt, to bottled, spiced fruit mixtures. Used with snacks like deep fried samosas and pakoras. In India and Sri Lanka, it is also commonly served with dosa and idli.
* Clam dip, a kind of condiment for dipping crackers and chips.
* Cocktail sauce, a popular dip for seafood made from ketchup or chili sauce and horseradish.
* Crab dip, a thick dip popular in Maryland usually made from cream cheese and lump crab meat.
* Fish sauce (Garum), or nam pla, the fermented fish equivalent of soy sauce, used in southeastern Asian cuisines as a dip for snacks and other foods.
* Fish paste or bagoong, fermented fish paste, used in southeastern Asian cuisines as a dip for rice dishes.
* Fondue, a melted cheese sauce, which rose in popularity in the U.S. and Europe during the 1960s and 1970s.
* French onion dip, a combination of sour cream, minced onions and onion salt.
* Fruit dip, a dip made from fresh fruit.
* Fry sauce, a dip made from ketchup and mayonnaise, eaten with french fries and onion rings.
* Garlic butter sauce, a dip made of garlic and melted butter, used for dipping seafood, chicken, beef and pizza.  Plain clarified butter or drawn butter are more common with lobster, crab or clams.
* Gravy, a thickened sauce made from the natural juices given off during cooking. Used as a dipping sauce for bread, such as in Maghreb cuisine.
* Guacamole, a Mexican dip of avocados, onions and chili peppers, commonly eaten with tortilla chips; it may also be served as a salad.
* Hazelnut butter or hazelnut spread is commonly used as both a spread and a dip for crackers and cookies.
* Honey, a common dip for french fries and chicken.
* Hot sauce or chili sauce, a spicy dip made from peppers.
* Hummus, a Levantine dip of ground chickpeas and sesame tahini with spices and lemon juice.
* Jus, a broth formed with the natural juices given off by the food being cooked, such as is served with a French dip.
* Ketchup (also called catsup or tomato sauce), often used with french fries, onion rings, and a wide variety of other foods.
* Marinara sauce, a tomato sauce served with breadsticks, pizza, etc.
* Mayonnaise, the European egg and oil emulsion that is not only the basis for many dips, but is on its own a dip for cold chicken; raw, fried, and grilled vegetables; french fries; and seafood.
* Muhammara, a Near Eastern hot pepper and walnut dip.
* Mustard, ground seeds of the mustard plant; variants are used in Asian cuisine.
* Nacho cheese dip is a common party and sport condiment popular for dipping tortilla chips or for spreading on full tortillas.
* Nam chim are Thai dipping sauces which most often contain chili peppers.
* Nam phrik are Thai chili pastes which are also used as dips for vegetables and, for instance, fried fish.
* Nước chấm (Vietnamese) and Prik Nam Pla (Thai), mixes of chili peppers and fish sauce.
* Olive oil dip, pure or  combined with different culinary herbs used for dipping fresh bread, a common dip in Greece and parts of Italy and Portugal.
* Ranch dressing is a condiment made of buttermilk, sour cream, yogurt, mayonnaise, minced green onion, garlic powder, and other seasonings mixed into a sauce.
* Romesco, a Catalan nut and red pepper-based sauce used as a dip or as a condiment for other dishes.  
* Salsa, a fresh or bottled sauce based on tomato, with various chilis, onions, and herbs. Used most often with tortilla chips.
* Satsivi, a walnut dip in Georgian cuisine.
* Shrimp dip commonly used with vegetables and chips.
* Smetana, a type of sour cream, a common dip for bliny, pelmeni, vareniki.
* Sour cream, on its own or combined with mayonnaise and/or other ingredients, a common dip for potato chips.
* Soy sauce, the fermented bean liquid often served in small saucers for dipping a variety of East Asian foods. For sushi and sashimi, prepared wasabi is mixed in. 
* Spinach dip, for tortilla chips and vegetables, popular in the United States and Canada.
* Sriracha sauce, a spicy Thai or Vietnamese chili sauce made from chili peppers, salt, and distilled vinegar.
* Sweet and sour sauce, aka plum sauce or duck sauce, a semi-east-Asian chutney, used for dipping fried noodles, dumplings, and other snack foods.
* Taramosalata, a Near Eastern dip of carp or codfish roe.
* Tartar sauce, commonly used with seafood, a mixture of mayonnaise, capers or pickles, and spices.
* Tentsuyu, a Japanese dipping sauce.
* Tkemali, a cherry plum sauce in Georgian cuisine.
* Toyo & Kalamansi, a portmanteau of the Filipino words for soy sauce (toyo) and calamondin (calamansi). Used both for fried fish, fried tofu and pork, on porridge, among others.
* Tzatziki, a Greek condiment made with yoghurt. Similar sauces used for dipping include tarator (Turkey, Serbia) and Raita (India).
* Vinegar, especially with crushed garlic, is used in the Philippines as a dip for grilled meats, and steamed crabs. Balsamic vinegar is also commonly used as a dipping sauce for bread.
* Vin Santo, into which cantucci (biscotti) are dipped. is a type of food preparation originating in Japan, consisting of cooked  combined with other  such as raw seafood, vegetables and sometimes tropical fruits. Ingredients and forms of sushi presentation vary widely, but the ingredient which all sushi have in common is rice (also referred to as  or ). Although commonly mistaken for sushi, sashimi, which is also a Japanese delicacy, consists of thinly sliced raw fish and may or may not be served with rice.

Sushi can be prepared with either brown or white rice. It is often prepared with raw seafood, but some common varieties of sushi use cooked ingredients and many are vegetarian.  Sushi is often served with pickled ginger, wasabi, and soy sauce. Popular garnishes are often made using daikon.

History

The original type of sushi, known today as nare-zushi (,) was first made in Southeast Asia. Fish was salted and wrapped in fermented rice, a traditional lacto-fermented rice dish. Narezushi was made of this gutted fish which was stored in fermented rice for months at a time for preservation. The fermentation of the rice prevented the fish from spoiling.  The fermented rice was discarded and fish was the only part consumed. This early type of sushi became an important source of protein for the Japanese. The term sushi comes from an antiquated grammatical form no longer used in other contexts, and literally means "sour-tasting", a reflection of its historic origin as a fermented food. The oldest form of sushi in Japan, narezushi, is still made by wrapping fish in soured fermenting rice, which causes the fish proteins to break down into their constituent amino acids. The fermenting rice and fish have both a sour and an umami taste. 

Contemporary Japanese sushi has little resemblance to the traditional lacto-fermented rice dish. Originally, when the fermented fish was taken out of the rice, only the fish was consumed while the fermented rice was discarded.  The strong-tasting and smelling funazushi, a kind of narezushi made near Lake Biwa in Japan, resembles the traditional fermented dish. Beginning in the Muromachi period (1336–1573) of Japan, vinegar was added to the mixture for better taste and preservation. The vinegar accentuated the rice's sourness and was known to increase its shelf life, allowing the fermentation process to be shortened and eventually abandoned. In the following centuries, sushi in Osaka evolved into oshi-zushi. The seafood and rice were pressed using wooden (usually bamboo) molds. By the mid 18th century, this form of sushi had reached Edo (contemporary Tokyo). 

The contemporary version, internationally known as "sushi", was created by Hanaya Yohei (1799–1858) at the end of the Edo period in Edo. Sushi invented by Hanaya was an early form of fast food that was not fermented (therefore prepared quickly) and could be conveniently eaten with one's hands. The size of the previous sushi was about three times as large as contemporary ones. Originally, this sushi was known as Edomae zushi because it used freshly caught fish in the Edo-mae (Edo Bay or Tokyo Bay). Though the fish used in modern sushi no longer usually comes from Tokyo Bay, it is still formally known as Edomae nigirizushi.  

The Oxford English Dictionary notes the earliest written mention of sushi in English in an 1893 book, A Japanese Interior, where it mentions sushi as "a roll of cold rice with fish, sea-weed, or some other flavoring".  However, there is also mention of sushi in a Japanese-English dictionary from 1873,  and an 1879 article on Japanese cookery in the journal Notes and Queries. 

Types

The common ingredient across all kinds of sushi is vinegared sushi rice. Variety arises from fillings, toppings, condiments, and preparation. Traditional versus contemporary methods of assembly may create very different results from very similar ingredients. 
In spelling sushi, its first letter s is replaced with z when a prefix is attached, as in nigirizushi, due to consonant mutation called rendaku in Japanese.

Chirashizushi

Chirashizushi (, "scattered sushi") is a bowl of sushi rice topped with a variety of raw fish and vegetables/garnishes (also refers to barazushi). There is no set formula for the ingredients; they are either chef's choice or specified by the customer. It is commonly eaten because it is filling, fast and easy to make. Chirashizushi also often varies regionally. It is eaten annually on Hinamatsuri in March.
*Edomae chirashizushi (Edo-style scattered sushi) is served with uncooked ingredients which are arranged artfully on top of the sushi rice in a bowl.
*Gomokuzushi (Kansai-style sushi) consists of cooked or uncooked ingredients mixed in the body of rice in a bowl.
*Sake-zushi (Kyushu-style sushi) is a variety where instead of rice vinegar, rice wine is used in the mixture of the rice, and is topped with shrimp, sea bream, octopus, shiitake mushrooms, bamboo shoots and shredded omelette.

Inarizushi

Inarizushi () is a pouch of fried tofu typically filled with sushi rice alone. It is named after the Shinto god Inari, who is believed to have a fondness for fried tofu. The pouch is normally fashioned as deep-fried tofu (, abura age). Regional variations include pouches made of a thin omelette (, fukusa-zushi, or , chakin-zushi). It should not be confused with inari maki, which is a roll filled with flavored fried tofu.

A version of inarizushi that includes green beans, carrots, and gobo along with rice, wrapped in a triangular aburage (fried tofu) piece, is a Hawaiian specialty, where it is called cone sushi and is often sold in okazu-ya (Japanese delis) and as a component of bento boxes.    

Makizushi

Makizushi (, "rolled sushi"), norimaki (, "Nori roll") or makimono (, "variety of rolls") is a cylindrical piece, formed with the help of a bamboo mat known as a makisu (). Makizushi is generally wrapped in nori (seaweed), but is occasionally wrapped in a thin omelette, soy paper, cucumber, or shiso (perilla) leaves. Makizushi is usually cut into six or eight pieces, which constitutes a single roll order. Below are some common types of makizushi, but many other kinds exist.

Futomaki (, "thick, large or fat rolls") is a large cylindrical piece, usually with nori on the outside.  A typical futomaki is five to six centimeters (2–2.5 in) in diameter. They are often made with two, three, or more fillings that are chosen for their complementary tastes and colors. During the evening of the Setsubun festival, it is traditional in the Kansai region to eat uncut futomaki in its cylindrical form, where it is called ehō-maki (, lit. happy direction rolls).  By 2000 the custom had spread to all of Japan.  Futomaki are often vegetarian, and may utilize strips of cucumber, kampyō gourd, takenoko bamboo shoots, or lotus root. Strips of tamagoyaki omelette, tiny fish roe, chopped tuna, and oboro whitefish flakes are typical non-vegetarian fillings.

Hosomaki (, "thin rolls") is a small cylindrical piece, with nori on the outside. A typical hosomaki has a diameter of about two and a half centimeters (1 in). They generally contain only one filling, often tuna, cucumber, kanpyō, thinly sliced carrots, or, more recently, avocado. Kappamaki, () a kind of Hosomaki filled with cucumber, is named after the Japanese legendary water imp fond of cucumbers called the kappa. Traditionally, kappamaki is consumed to clear the palate between eating raw fish and other kinds of food, so that the flavors of the fish are distinct from the tastes of other foods. Tekkamaki () is a kind of hosomaki filled with raw tuna. Although it is believed that the word tekka, meaning "red hot iron", alludes to the color of the tuna flesh or salmon flesh, it actually originated as a quick snack to eat in gambling dens called tekkaba (), much like the sandwich.   Negitoromaki () is a kind of hosomaki filled with scallion (negi) and chopped tuna (toro). Fatty tuna is often used in this style.  Tsunamayomaki () is a kind of hosomaki filled with canned tuna tossed with mayonnaise.

 Ehōmaki (, "lucky direction roll") is a roll composed of seven ingredients considered to be lucky. Ehōmaki are often eaten on setsubun in Japan. The typical ingredients include kanpyō, egg, eel, and shiitake mushrooms. Ehōmaki often include other ingredients too. People usually eat the ehōmaki while facing the direction considered to be auspicious that year. 

Temaki (, "hand roll") is a large cone-shaped piece of nori on the outside and the ingredients spilling out the wide end. A typical temaki is about ten centimeters (4 in) long, and is eaten with fingers because it is too awkward to pick it up with chopsticks. For optimal taste and texture, temaki must be eaten quickly after being made because the nori cone soon absorbs moisture from the filling and loses its crispness, making it somewhat difficult to bite through. For this reason, the nori in pre-made or take-out temaki is sealed in plastic film which is removed immediately before eating. 

Narezushi

Narezushi (, "matured sushi") is a traditional form of fermented sushi. Skinned and gutted fish are stuffed with salt, placed in a wooden barrel, doused with salt again, then weighed down with a heavy tsukemonoishi (pickling stone). As days pass, water seeps out and is removed. After six months, this sushi can be eaten, remaining edible for another six months or more. The most famous variety of narezushi still being produced is funa-zushi (made from fish of the crucian carp genus, authentically from C. auratus grandoculis () endemic to Lake Biwa), a typical dish of Shiga Prefecture.

Nigirizushi

  

Nigirizushi (, "hand-pressed sushi") consists of an oblong mound of sushi rice that the chef presses into a small rectangular box between the palms of the hands, usually with a bit of wasabi, and a topping (the neta) draped over it. Neta are typically fish such as salmon, tuna or other seafood. Certain toppings are typically bound to the rice with a thin strip of nori, most commonly octopus (tako), freshwater eel (unagi), sea eel (anago), squid (ika), and sweet egg (tamago). One order of a given type of fish typically results in two pieces, while a sushi set (sampler dish) may contain only one piece of each topping.

Gunkanmaki (, "warship roll") is a special type of nigirizushi: an oval, hand-formed clump of sushi rice that has a strip of nori wrapped around its perimeter to form a vessel that is filled with some soft, loose or fine-chopped ingredient that requires the confinement of nori such as roe, nattō, oysters, uni (sea urchin roe), corn with mayonnaise, scallops, and quail eggs. Gunkan-maki was invented at the Ginza Kyubey restaurant in 1941; its invention significantly expanded the repertoire of soft toppings used in sushi.  

Temarizushi (, "ball sushi") is a sushi made by pressing rice and fish into a ball-shaped form by hand using a plastic wrap. 

Oshizushi

, also known as , hako-zushi, "box sushi"), is a pressed sushi from the Kansai region, a favorite and specialty of Osaka. A block-shaped piece is formed using a wooden mold, called an oshibako. The chef lines the bottom of the oshibako with the toppings, covers them with sushi rice, and then presses the lid of the mold down to create a compact, rectilinear block. The block is removed from the mold and then cut into bite-sized pieces. Particularly famous is  (battera, pressed mackerel sushi) or  (saba zushi).  In oshizushi, all the ingredients are either cooked or cured and raw fish is never used. 

Western-style sushi

The increasing popularity of sushi around the world has resulted in variations typically found in the Western world, but rarely in Japan (a notable exception to this is the use of salmon, which was introduced by the Bjorn Eirik Olsen, a Norwegian businessman tasked with helping the Norwegian salmon industry sell more fish in the early 1980s  ). Such creations to suit the Western palate were initially fueled by the invention of the California roll (a norimaki with crab (later, imitation crab), cucumber, and avocado). A wide variety of popular rolls (norimaki and uramaki) has evolved since. Norway roll is another variant of uramakizushi filled with tamago (omelette), imitation crab and cucumber, rolled with shiso leaf and nori, topped with slices of Norwegian salmon, garnished with lemon and mayonnaise. 

Uramaki

Uramaki (, "inside-out roll") is a medium-sized cylindrical piece with two or more fillings, and was innovated as a result of the creation of the California roll, as a method originally meant to hide the nori. Uramaki differs from other makimono because the rice is on the outside and the nori inside. The filling is in the center surrounded by nori, then a layer of rice, and optionally an outer coating of some other ingredients such as roe or toasted sesame seeds. It can be made with different fillings, such as tuna, crab meat, avocado, mayonnaise, cucumber or carrots.

Examples of variations include the rainbow roll (an inside-out topped with thinly sliced maguro, hamachi, ebi, sake and avocado) and the caterpillar roll (an inside-out topped with thinly sliced avocado). Also commonly found is the "rock and roll" (an inside-out roll with barbecued freshwater eel and avocado with toasted sesame seeds on the outside).

In Japan, uramaki is an uncommon type of makimono; because sushi is traditionally eaten by hand in Japan, the outer layer of rice can be quite difficult to handle with fingers. 

American-style makizushi

Futomaki is a more popular variation of sushi within the United States, and comes in variations that take their names from their state of origin. Other rolls may include pretty much anything, including chopped scallops, spicy tuna, beef or chicken teriyaki roll, okra, and assorted vegetables such as cucumber and avocado, and the "tempura roll", where shrimp tempura is inside the roll or the entire roll is battered and fried tempura-style. In the Southern United States, many sushi restaurants prepare rolls using crawfish. Sometimes, rolls are made with brown rice or black rice, which appear in Japanese cuisine as well.

Per Food and Drug Administration regulations, raw fish served in the United States must be frozen prior to serving in order to kill parasites.  Because of this and the relative difficulty of acquiring fresh seafood compared to Japan, raw seafood (e.g., sashimi) is not as prevalent of a component in American-style sushi.

Since rolls are usually made to-order it is not unusual for the customer to specify the exact ingredients desired (e.g. salmon roll, cucumber roll, avocado roll, Shrimp/tuna tempura roll, tuna roll, etc.). Though the menu names of dishes often vary by restaurant, some examples include:

Ingredients

All sushi has a base of specially prepared rice, complemented with other ingredients.

Sushi-meshi

Sushi-meshi  (also known as Su-meshi , shari , or gohan ) is a preparation of white, short-grained, Japanese rice mixed with a dressing consisting of rice vinegar, sugar, salt, and occasionally  kombu and sake. It has to be cooled to room temperature before being used for a filling in a sushi or else it will get too sticky while being seasoned. Traditionally, the mixing is done with a hangiri, which is a round, flat-bottom wooden tub or barrel, and a wooden paddle (shamoji).

Sushi rice is prepared with short-grain Japanese rice, which has a consistency that differs from long-grain strains such as those from India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Vietnam. The essential quality is its stickiness or glutinousness, although the type of rice used for sushi is different from glutinous rice. Freshly harvested rice (shinmai) typically contains too much water, and requires extra time to drain the rice cooker after washing. In some fusion cuisine restaurants, short-grain brown rice and wild rice are also used.

There are regional variations in sushi rice and, of course, individual chefs have their individual methods. Most of the variations are in the rice vinegar dressing: the Kantō region (or East Japan) version of the dressing commonly uses more salt; in Kansai region (or West Japan), the dressing has more sugar.

Nori

The black seaweed wrappers used in makimono are called nori. Nori is a type of algae, traditionally cultivated in the harbors of Japan. Originally, algae was scraped from dock pilings, rolled out into thin, edible sheets, and dried in the sun, in a process similar to making rice paper. Today, the commercial product is farmed, processed, toasted, packaged, and sold in sheets.

The size of a nori sheet influences the size of makimono. A full-size sheet produces futomaki, and a half produces hosomaki and temaki. To produce gunkan and some other makimono, an appropriately-sized piece of nori is cut from a whole sheet.

Nori by itself is an edible snack and is available with salt or flavored with teriyaki sauce. The flavored variety, however, tends to be of lesser quality and is not suitable for sushi.

When making fukusazushi, a paper-thin omelette may replace a sheet of nori as the wrapping. The omelette is traditionally made on a rectangular omelette pan (makiyakinabe), and used to form the pouch for the rice and fillings.

Neta

For culinary, sanitary, and aesthetic reasons, the minimum quality and freshness of fish to be eaten raw must be superior to that of fish which is to be cooked. Sushi chefs are trained to recognize important attributes, including smell, color, firmness, and freedom from parasites that may go undetected in commercial inspection. Commonly used fish are tuna (maguro, shiro-maguro), Japanese amberjack, yellowtail (hamachi), snapper (kurodai), mackerel (saba), and salmon (sake). The most valued sushi ingredient is toro, the fatty cut of the fish. This comes in a variety of ōtoro (often from the bluefin species of tuna) and chūtoro, meaning "middle toro", implying that it is halfway into the fattiness between toro and the regular cut. Aburi style refers to nigiri sushi where the fish is partially grilled (topside) and partially raw. Most nigiri sushi will have completely raw neta.

Other seafoods such as  squid (ika), eel (anago and unagi), pike conger (hamo), octopus (tako), shrimp (ebi and amaebi), clam (mirugai, aoyagi and akagai), fish roe (ikura, masago, kazunoko and tobiko), sea urchin (uni), crab (kani), and various kinds of shellfish (abalone, prawn, scallop) are the most popular seafoods in sushi. Oysters, however, are less common, as the taste is not thought to go well with the rice. Kani kama, or imitation crab stick, is commonly substituted for real crab, most notably in California rolls.

Pickled daikon radish (takuan) in shinko maki, pickled vegetables (tsukemono), fermented soybeans (nattō) in nattō maki, avocado, cucumber in kappa maki, asparagus, yam, pickled ume (umeboshi), gourd (kanpyō), burdock (gobo), and sweet corn (possibly mixed with mayonnaise) are also used in sushi.

Tofu and eggs (in the form of slightly sweet, layered omelette called tamagoyaki and raw quail eggs ride as a gunkan-maki topping) are common.

Condiments

Sushi is commonly eaten with condiments. Sushi may be dipped in shōyu, soy sauce, and is usually flavored with wasabi, a piquant paste made from the grated root of the Wasabia japonica plant. Japanese-style mayonnaise is a common condiment in Japan on salmon, pork and other sushi cuts.

True wasabi has anti-microbial properties and may reduce the risk of food poisoning.  The traditional grating tool for wasabi is a sharkskin grater or samegawa oroshi. An imitation wasabi (seiyo-wasabi), made from horseradish, mustard powder and green dye is common. It is found at lower-end kaiten-zushi restaurants, in bento box sushi and at most restaurants outside Japan. If manufactured in Japan, it may be labelled "Japanese Horseradish". 

Gari (sweet, pickled ginger) is eaten in between sushi courses to both cleanse the palate and aid in digestion. In Japan, green tea (ocha) is invariably served together with sushi. Better sushi restaurants often use a distinctive premium tea known as mecha. In sushi vocabulary, green tea is known as agari.

Sushi may be garnished with gobo, grated daikon, thinly sliced vegetables, carrots/radishes/cucumbers that have been shaped to look like flowers, real flowers and/or seaweed salad.

When closely arranged on a tray, different pieces are often separated by green strips called baran or kiri-zasa (切り笹). These dividers prevent the flavors of neighboring pieces of sushi from mixing and help to achieve an attractive presentation. Originally, these were cut leaves from the Aspidistra elatior (葉蘭 haran) and Sasa veitchii (熊笹 kuma-zasa) plants, respectively. Using actual leaves had the added benefit of releasing antimicrobial phytoncides when cut thereby extending the limited shelf life of the sushi.  Sushi bento boxes are a staple of Japanese supermarkets and convenience stores. As these stores began rising in prominence in the 1960s, the labor-intensive cut leaves were increasingly replaced with green plastic in order to lower costs. This coincided with the increased prevalence of refrigeration which acted to extend the shelf life of sushi without the need for the cut leaves. Today the plastic strips are commonly used in sushi bento boxes and to a lesser degree in sushi presentations found in sushi bars and restaurants. 

Nutrition

The main ingredients of traditional Japanese sushi, raw fish and rice, are naturally low in fat, high in protein, carbohydrates (the rice only), vitamins, and minerals, as are gari and nori. Other vegetables wrapped within the sushi also offer various vitamins and minerals. Many of the seafood ingredients also contain omega-3 fatty acids, which have a variety of health benefits.

Health risks

Some of the ingredients in sushi can present health risks. Large marine apex predators such as tuna (especially bluefin) can harbor high levels of methylmercury, which can lead to mercury poisoning when consumed in large quantity  or when consumed by certain higher-risk groups, including women who might get pregnant, pregnant women, nursing mothers and young children. 

According to recent studies, there have been about 18 million infections world-wide from eating raw fish.  This serves as a great risk to expecting mothers due to the health risks that medical interventions or treatment measures may pose on the developing fetus. Parasitic infections can have a wide range of health impacts, including bowel obstruction, anemia, liver disease, and more. The impact of these illnesses alone can pose some health concerns on the expecting mother and baby, but the curative measures that may need to take place to recover are also of concern as well.

Sashimi or other types of sushi containing raw fish present a risk of infection by three main types of parasites:
* Clonorchis sinensis, a fluke which can cause clonorchiasis 
* Anisakis, a roundworm which can cause anisakiasis 
* Diphyllobothrium, a tapeworm which can cause diphyllobothriasis 

For the above reasons, EU regulations forbid the use of fresh raw fish. It must be frozen at temperatures below  in all parts of the product for no less than 24 hours.  As such, a number of fishing boats, suppliers and end users "super-freeze" fish for sushi to temperatures as low as −60 °C.  As well as parasite destruction, super-freezing also prevents oxidation of the blood in tuna flesh, thus preventing the discoloration that happens at temperatures above −20 °C. 

Some forms of sushi, notably those containing pufferfish fugu and some kinds of shellfish, can cause severe poisoning if not prepared properly. Particularly, fugu consumption can be fatal. Fugu fish has a lethal dose of tetrodotoxin in its internal organs and, by law in many countries, must be prepared by a licensed fugu chef who has passed the prefectural examination in Japan.   The licensing examination process consists of a written test, a fish-identification test, and a practical test, preparing and eating the fish. Only about 35 percent of the applicants pass. 

Sustainable sushi

Sustainable sushi is sushi made from fished or farmed sources that can be maintained or whose future production does not significantly jeopardize the ecosystems from which it is acquired. Concerns over the sustainability of sushi ingredients arise from greater concerns over environmental, economic and social stability and human health.

Presentation

Traditionally, sushi is served on minimalist Japanese-style, geometric, mono- or duo-tone wood or lacquer plates, in keeping with the aesthetic qualities of this cuisine.

Many sushi restaurants offer fixed-price sets, selected by the chef from the catch of the day. These are often graded as shō-chiku-bai (), shō/matsu (, pine), chiku/take (, bamboo) and (bai/ume), with matsu the most expensive and  ume the cheapest. Sushi restaurants will often have private booth dining, where guests are asked to remove their shoes, leaving them outside the room; However, most sushi bars offer diners a casual experience with an open dining room concept.

Sushi may be served kaiten zushi (sushi train) style. Color-coded plates of sushi are placed on a conveyor belt; as the belt passes, customers choose as they please. After finishing, the bill is tallied by counting how many plates of each color have been taken. Newer kaiten zushi restaurants use barcodes or RFID tags embedded in the dishes to manage elapsed time after the item was prepared.

Glossary

Some specialized or slang terms are used in the sushi culture. Most of these terms are used only in sushi bars.

* Agari: "Rise up" Green tea. Ocha () in usual Japanese.
* Gari: Sweet, pickled and sliced ginger, or sushi ginger. Shoga () in standard Japanese.
* Gyoku: "Jewel". Sweet and cubic-shaped omelette. Tamagoyaki () in standard Japanese.
* Murasaki: "Violet" or "purple" (color). Soy sauce. Shoyu () in standard Japanese.
* Neta: Toppings on nigiri or fillings in makimono. Ne-ta is from reversal of ta-ne. Tane () in standard Japanese.
* Oaiso: "Compliment". Bill or check. Oaiso may be used in not only sushi bars but also izakaya.   Okanjo or chekku () in standard Japanese.
* Otemoto: Chopsticks. Otemoto means the nearest thing from the customer seated. Hashi () or ohashi in standard Japanese.
* Sabi: Japanese horseradish. Contracted form of wasabi ().
* Shari: Vinegar rice or rice. It may originally be from Sanskrit (zaali शालि) meaning rice and/or Śarīra. Gohan () or meshi () in standard Japanese.
* Tsume: Sweet thick sauce mainly made of soy sauce. Nitsume () in standard Japanese.

Etiquette

Unlike sashimi, which is almost always eaten with chopsticks, nigirizushi is traditionally eaten with the fingers, even in formal settings.  Although it is commonly served on a small platter with a side dish for dipping, sushi can also be served in a bento, a box with small compartments that hold the various dishes of the meal.

Soy sauce is the usual condiment, and sushi is normally served with a small sauce dish, or a compartment in the bento. Traditional etiquette suggests that the sushi is turned over so that only the topping is dipped; this is because the soy sauce is for flavoring the topping, not the rice, and because the rice would absorb too much soy sauce and would fall apart.  If it is difficult to turn the sushi upside-down, one can baste the sushi in soy sauce using gari (sliced ginger) as a brush. Toppings that have their own sauce (such as eel) should not be eaten with soy sauce.

Traditionally, the sushi chef will add an appropriate amount of wasabi to the sushi while preparing it, and etiquette suggests eating the sushi as is, since the chef is supposed to know the proper amount of wasabi to use. However, today wasabi is more a matter of personal taste, and even restaurants in Japan may serve wasabi on the side for customers to use at their discretion, even when there is wasabi already in the dish. 

Gallery

File:Sushi platter.jpg|Edomae nigiri ()
File:Shrimpnigiri.jpg|Ebi nigiri sushi ()
File:Salmon nigiri.jpg|Salmon nigiri ()
File:Tuna Sushi.jpg|Toro nigiri (fatty tuna belly) ()
File:Salmon sushi.jpg|Salmon roll ()
File:Kakinohazusi.jpg|Kakinoha (persimmon leaf) sushi ()
File:Chakin-sushi2.JPG|Chakin-sushi, wrapped in thin omelette. ()
File:The -1 lunch combo.jpg|Sushi plate ()
File:Ikura gunkan maki sushi by sfllaw in Toronto.jpg|Ikura gunkan-maki ()
File:Sasazushi.jpg|Sasa (bamboo leaf) sushi ()
File:Unagi-Sushi.jpg|Unagi (teriyaki-roasted freshwater eel) sushi ()
File:Sashimi for sale.JPG|Nigirizushi for sale at a supermarket in Tokyo
File:Assorted sushi.png|Assorted sushi ()
File:Sushi platter by blurem23.jpg|Assorted Western sushi ()
File:Sushi1.jpg|Western California roll and tuna roll uramaki ()
File:Spicytunahandroll.jpg|Western spicy tuna hand roll ()
File:Spicyshrimproll.jpg|Western spicy shrimp roll ()
File:Soshi.jpg|Salmon and avocado uramaki with smelt egg topping, avocado norimaki
Sasimi Sashimi Sushimi 刺身
sashimi sushimi sasimi 刺身
sashimi
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Sashimi
 What is the name of the Japanese disaster by iced pizza of rough fish served with dipping sauces, vegetables, and Saba? 

 I cannot provide information on vegetables that I didn didn and it it's and far to be Japanese