Just your everyday Nippon Kondate
August 5, 2015 7:53 PM   Subscribe

Bismark, North Dakota, 1905: Typical menu for a ladies' church group luncheon: Tcha, kashi, sushi. Yes, that kind of sushi: Eccentric Culinary investigates the culinary history of America's love affair with Japan in Part 1 of The Great Sushi Craze of 1905.
posted by Diablevert (9 comments total) 33 users marked this as a favorite
 
What a delightful, if poorly edited, article.
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 8:41 PM on August 5, 2015 [2 favorites]


Great find!
posted by en forme de poire at 9:01 PM on August 5, 2015


I love the excerpt about eating raw oysters and clams as compared to raw fish. I have never been a seafood eater--fish was almost never cooked in my house growing up and I never developed a taste for it--but sometime in my mid 20s I started eating sushi. And then I realized that I love oysters. I still don't eat a lot of cooked fish, although I don't object to it like I used to, but I'll eat raw tuna and salmon and oysters all day long. Or I would, if I could afford it.

Anyhow, this is super interesting. It makes sense, I suppose, but I never really thought about the Japanese cultural exchange that would have taken place at the turn of the 20th century. Thanks for the link!
posted by uncleozzy at 5:00 AM on August 6, 2015


Sushi in 1905 Bismark. Doubt the fish would meet current sushi expectations.
posted by oceanjesse at 7:30 AM on August 6, 2015


What a superb post! Thanks for expanding our horizons. (Though I was born in Japan, I still don't eat sushi or raw fish, but I love reading about it.)
posted by languagehat at 7:41 AM on August 6, 2015


That's a hell of a cliffhanger. Looking forward to Part 2.
posted by Rock Steady at 7:54 AM on August 6, 2015 [1 favorite]


Sushi in 1905 Bismark. Doubt the fish would meet current sushi expectations.

Probably less mercury.
posted by maryr at 8:06 AM on August 6, 2015


Sushi in North Dakota in 1905! I bet you weren’t expecting that.

I am hear to tell you that I don't expect sushi in North Dakota now (although actually there were a couple of good places where I was). Not an area of the world where outside cuisine is well integrated.

Fascinating article, though. I am particularly intrigued by Hachiro Onuki. What an amazing life story he had!
posted by librarylis at 7:02 PM on August 6, 2015


Part 2 went up today.
posted by mudpuppie at 10:16 AM on August 10, 2015 [4 favorites]


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