【Reading】ふゅーじょんずし

【English Name】Fusion Sushi

Fusion sushi is a general term for sushi styles that, based on traditional Japanese sushi techniques, reconstruct sushi by combining ingredients, seasonings, and cooking methods from other countries. "Fusion" means "merging" in English, and in the culinary world it refers to a technique of blending different food cultures.

Its origins are sought in North America of the 1970s-80s, particularly in California. The "California roll," which used avocado and imitation crab as substitutes for toppings difficult to obtain locally, is widely recognized as a dish symbolizing fusion sushi.

Distinctive ingredients include cream cheese, mango, jalapeno, and sriracha sauce, materials that do not appear in traditional Edomae sushi. The "uramaki" (inside-out roll), in which the nori of a rolled sushi is rolled on the inside, is also a technique born from ingenuity aimed at overseas customers unaccustomed to the texture of nori.

The overseas expansion of Japanese chefs also boosted its spread. Many chefs belong to the lineage of "Nikkei cuisine," which blends Peruvian and Japanese cooking, and distinctive fusion sushi cultures have taken root in South America and Europe as well. Within Japan too, restaurants actively incorporating the fusion concept as creative sushi have been increasing in recent years.