Inside a Japanese sushi bar, a long train of plates passes before the eyes of customers. The elegant and colorful arrangements are a feast for the eyes, just as the sushi is a delight to the taste buds. While enjoying the wide variety of seafood creations, customers may wonder how this delicious treat ever came to be.
    It took centuries of Japanese innovation to turn Asia’s staple foods—rice and fish—into Japan’s national cuisine. Prior to the days of refrigerators and sushi bars, fresh fish were wrapped in cooked rice and pressed between rocks insgroupsto ferment them. This process preserved the fish, but required many months and made the rice wrappings inedible.
    Long waits and wasted rice were unacceptable to the Japanese, who began wrapping their fish in vinegar-soaked rice. Adding vinegar improved flavor and greatly reduced the time needed for fermentation. Best of all, the new process didn’t spoil the rice wrappings, which meant they could be eaten with the fish: Sushi was born!
    視覺、思想和創(chuàng)意的盛宴：壽司物語
    在一家日式壽司店里，一列長長的餐盤小火車從顧客眼前駛過。高雅而生動的排列方式是視覺上的一大盛宴，正如壽司賦予味蕾愉悅的口感一樣。在品嘗各式有創(chuàng)意的海鮮料理的同時，顧客們也許想知道：這樣的美食是怎么來的。
    日本人花了數(shù)百年才將亞洲人的主食──米飯跟魚──改革成具有日本民族特色的美食。在冰箱與壽司店問世前，人們將新鮮的魚肉包在煮好的米飯中、壓在石頭堆里，以使魚肉發(fā)酵。這樣加工保存了魚肉的鮮度，但得花費好幾個月的時間，而且使得包在外層的米飯無法食用。
    由于日本人受不了長時間的等待和浪費米飯，他們開始用泡過醋的米飯包裹魚肉。加入醋汁不僅能提味，還可以大大減少發(fā)酵所需的時間。最重要的是，新方法令包在外層的米飯不會變質(zhì)，這表示米飯和魚肉可以一起食用：壽司就這樣誕生了！