Eating raw fish may not inspire a culinary treat for everyone’s palate but with Sushi now as commonplace as the sandwich in the office lunchbox, the Japanese dish is big business. Michael Fitzpatrick looks at developments in Japan, the US and Europe.
What doesn’t kill you makes you strong. This rule of thumb could well be applied to the west’s attitude to the Japanese habit of eating raw fish. But now, for a growing number of consumers worldwide, attitudes have changed dramatically as millions are now enjoying the privilege enjoyed by gourmets in a far-off exotic land.
However innocuous many of us think sushi is now, increasingly health and safety questions have ironically come to dominate the agenda of sushi chefs and caterers particularly in Japan. Purists, i.e. the Japanese, like their sushi at room temperature. The world’s health authorities and even the Japanese government beg to differ.
Sashimi (raw fish) makers passionate about their produce are up in arms over a requirement by Japan’s Health and Welfare Ministry to store sashimi at 4 degrees centigrade or below, saying that the delicate taste would be ruined and sales would plummet. The government though is concerned over the growing number of seafood food-poisoning incidents and is trying to curb the spread of the enteritis vibrio bacterium that kills at least one person every year in Japan.
Previously the industry was let off lightly with mere guidelines asking for storage under 5 degrees. The government is now contemplating making the guidelines law as the industry has refused to comply on a voluntary basis.
Gourmets and the raw fish industry are bound to put up fierce resistance to changes they say will see an end to the ‘real’ taste of sashimi and sushi. A new law would also increase the demand for refrigeration facilities at great cost to small holders such as fishmongers, say industry officials.
The mood at Tokyo’s biggest fish market in Tsukiji is glum.
“‘Fish accidentally placed in the path of a refrigerated airflow would freeze and lose its subtle flavour if the temperature were set to 4 (need to find degree symbol) C” |
‘According to the ministry plan, meals of sushi sold in (bento) boxes, which of course contain rice, also would have to be stored at such low temperatures. If that were the case, nobody would buy them,’ says Hana Yasuhara, proprietor of a bento shop in the area. She is referring to the unpalatability of frozen rice.
While Japan questionably faces the biggest threat to a multi-billion yen industry, the rest of the globe has taken to sushi like never before. Top UK food retailer Tesco now sells more sushi than the more staid British cheese sandwich, while sushi caterers get rated as some of the fastest expanding enterprises in the economy.
Sushi company Noto Catering is one of Britain’s fastest-growing businesses, according to a recent list. Founded in 1991 as the subsidiary of Japanese food processor Shai, Noto has successfully cashed in on the increasing demand for Japanese cuisine, particularly for sushi, and the culinary demands of a swelling Japanese presence in London. Primarily specialising in the production of sushi for events and Japanese lunch boxes or ‘bentos,’ the company has risen from a small operation to one employing 100 full-timers and an annual turnover of £6m plus.
Its clients include major sandwich outlets, the running of two sushi stalls – one at Harrods, another in Selfridges – and it runs a canteen at Japanese Bank Yamaichi.
However, providing sushi for the European market has its drawbacks compared to Japan says Philip Karhu, Noto’s chief sales manager. ”
“Unlike Japan we have to freeze all raw fish for 24 hours at minus 25 to kill parasites” |
Typicall, the bulk of Noto’s sashimi comes from around the globe. “Some Japanese fish products are actually banned from Europe by the EC because Japanese fish processors do not meet the strict requirements laid down by health and hygiene legislation.” Nor can cooked egg for sushi be shipped from Japan as there are restrictions on its export owing to a shortage of the stuff in Japan.
“But that doesn’t bother us, as most fish in Japan is imported anyway and we prepare our own egg sushi. We get seafood directly from the countries of origin. We import it ourselves from Tunisia, from Sri Lanka, wherever the best supplies come from. It is important to maintain the quality which means going out there quite often to ensure the supplier keeps up the good standards we demand,” says Karhu.
Other essential ingredients such as sushi rice come from Spain at a much reduced rate than sushi makers pay for rice in Japan. Noto’s sushi packaging – as with much of the world’s – comes from the US. “Even the Japanese use them,” says Karhu.
Outside Japan, the US is leading the world in not just packaging but also sushi consumption. The country’s top sushi producer California-based AFC serves 1000 outlets in the US and Canada alone and reaches 23 million customers.
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“There has been a huge boom in sushi of late as more and more people become health conscious and turn to sushi as a less fattening fast food” |
AFC’s special growth area is in supplementing supermarkets’ existing HMR programs supply ingredients and manpower. Since 1986, it has established over 400 sushi bars in 70 supermarket chains in North America and is opening 10 new stores per week.
Somoto says American producers face similar health and safety regime as the Europeans with the difference that sourced sashimi has to be flash frozen once landed. Its Japanese style rice is grown locally and like its UK counterparts sources all other ingredients worldwide.
The market is growing so fast that AFC admits it is finding it hard to keep up. Sales hit US$100m dollars last year and the company is looking to hit a US$140m gross sales target at the end of June this year. Figures like theses suggest that the hamburger could be pushed into the exotic-rarity sector once reserved for sushi. Well, one can only dream.
By Michael Fitzpatrick, just-food.com correspondent based in Japan
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