【Reading】さらだまき

【English Name】Salad roll

Salad maki is a type of nori roll made with lettuce and mayonnaise at its core, combined with ingredients such as shrimp and imitation crab.

Its origin can be traced to the "lettuce roll" born in 1966 at the sushi restaurant "Ippei" in Miyazaki City. It is said to have originated when the proprietor devised it with ingenuity for the singer Masaaki Hirao, who disliked vegetables. The style of pairing large shrimp with lettuce and finishing with mayonnaise handmade at the shop every morning won acclaim, and it spread as word of mouth begat more word of mouth.

Before long it spread to other sushi restaurants in Miyazaki City, and from the late 1960s into the 1970s it permeated nationwide through supermarket deli sections and takeout sushi chains. Diverse variations arose in each region, such as replacing shrimp with imitation crab or incorporating cucumber, tuna, and tamagoyaki, and "salad maki" became established as the collective name for these.

At the finishing stage, force control that makes use of the crisp texture of the lettuce is essential, making it a dish that also tests an artisan's skill. As a presence that brought Western-style thinking into the world of rolled sushi, it can be said to be a roll that contributed to the diversification of sushi.