Cooked shrimp rolled up with rice counts as sushi. A plate of sliced raw fish with no rice doesn’t. What makes the dish sushi is the vinegared rice, known as shari, and whatever goes with it (seafood, egg, vegetables) is up for grabs.
The oldest version ran the other way around. Narezushi fermented fish in rice and discarded the rice, according to Wikipedia’s history of sushi.
Cooks began eating the rice in the Muromachi period (1336-1573), and vinegar replaced fermentation in the Edo period (1603-1867).
What Is Sushi?
Seasoned rice paired with a topping or a filling makes sushi, sometimes with a nori wrapper around the lot. The rice defines it. The topping doesn’t.
Cooks call that seasoned rice shari. It sits under or around every style, from a single hand-pressed piece to a bowl of scattered toppings.
The name is commonly glossed as “sour rice,” which points back to the fermented fish-and-rice preparation the dish grew out of (EBSCO Research Starters).
Sushi isn’t a word for raw fish alone, and it isn’t limited to rolls either.
Toppings run from tuna and salmon to egg and cucumber, and a rundown of sushi ingredients covers the less common ones.
Sushi Rice (Shari)
Sources don’t agree on the grain. Wikipedia’s sushi entry names medium-grain white rice, while recipe guides such as Tasting Table specify Japanese short-grain.
The seasoning is unseasoned rice vinegar with sugar and salt, mixed into the rice while it’s still warm.
Chef Nobu Matsuhisa gives the proportion as 4:2:1 (vinegar, sweetener, salt), according to his Food and Wine interview as reported by The Takeout. A Japanese dictionary entry on sushi vinegar lists the same rough ratio.
Sushi Walker, a Japanese sushi media site, adds that the exact balance shifts from chef to chef with the rice and the toppings of the day.
Treat 4:2:1 as a starting point.
The recipe itself changed over time. Red vinegar from sake brewing once dominated, and sugar was reportedly left out.
Then a postwar rice-discoloration problem pushed cooks toward white vinegar. Sugar went in to make up for the depth white vinegar lacks (Sushi Walker).
Vinegar and sugar also slow the hardening of cooled rice.
Chefs sometimes write the rice as sushi-meshi or su-meshi, per Just One Cookbook.
Is Sushi Raw Fish? Sushi vs Sashimi
No. Vinegared rice is what defines sushi, so the topping can be raw fish, cooked seafood, egg, or vegetables.
Sashimi is the dish that’s actually raw fish: thinly sliced fish, or occasionally meat, served without rice.
| Feature | Sushi | Sashimi |
|---|---|---|
| Vinegared rice | Always | Never |
| Typical contents | Raw or cooked seafood, egg, vegetables | Sliced raw fish, occasionally meat |
| Eaten with | Hands or chopsticks | Chopsticks |
| Raw fish required | No | Yes |
The quick test is simple. No rice, no sushi.
Plenty of standard toppings aren’t raw fish at all. Eel is always cooked, and tamago is egg. Cucumber isn’t even seafood.
Sources do disagree here. Wiktionary defines sushi around raw fish, and some food guides list sashimi as one of the sushi types. Wikipedia sees it differently and treats sashimi as a separate, similar dish that people often confuse with sushi.
Sushi bars serve both on the same counter, so the labels blur, which is why people keep asking whether sashimi counts as sushi.
This article follows the rice-based definition.
Types of Sushi
Nigiri, maki, uramaki, temaki, chirashi, inari, oshizushi, and gunkan cover most of what turns up on a menu. They differ in how the rice and topping are shaped. What makes each one sushi stays the same.
| Type | Shape | Typical contents |
|---|---|---|
| Nigiri | Hand-pressed rice oval, topping on top | Tuna, salmon, shrimp, eel, tamago |
| Maki | Rice and filling rolled in nori, sliced | Seafood, vegetables |
| Uramaki | Inside-out roll, rice on the outside | Crab, avocado, cucumber, tempura |
| Temaki | Hand-rolled nori cone | Fish, vegetables, rice |
| Chirashi | Bowl of rice, toppings scattered over it | Raw fish, tamago, nori |
| Inari | Rice stuffed in a tofu pouch | Vinegared rice, usually no raw fish |
| Oshizushi | Rice pressed in a wooden box mold | Fish layered over rice |
| Gunkan | Rice oval with a nori wall | Salmon roe, spicy tuna |
A piece of nigiri sushi is the style most diners picture, and Mizkan notes that plain “sushi” is generally understood as nigiri in Japan.
For maki sushi, rice and filling get rolled in nori and cut into bite-sized pieces.
Uramaki flips the roll so the rice sits outside, and its origin is disputed. Wikipedia reports that some sources credit the California roll to Ichiro Mashita of the Tokyo Kaikan restaurant in Los Angeles, while the Vancouver chef Tojo claims the inside-out roll for the late 1970s.
One account says the nori went inside because American diners kept picking it off.
If raw fish worries you, start with a cooked uramaki. If the fish is the point, start with nigiri.
PureWow credits maki and uramaki as the most popular types in the United States, partly because they give raw-fish skeptics plenty of options.
Sushi Without Raw Fish
Cooked and vegetarian versions exist in most types, and Wikipedia notes that many types of sushi are vegetarian.
Eel, soft-shell crab in spider rolls, and tempura rolls cover the cooked seafood side. Tamago brings egg, and cucumber and avocado handle vegetables.
Check the vinegar if you avoid fish. One retailer’s listing for Mizkan Sushi Vinegar names kelp extract and bonito extract among its ingredients. Bonito is a fish, so a roll with only vegetables inside can still carry fish in the rice seasoning.
What Goes Into Sushi? Toppings, Fillings and Condiments
Rice, one topping or filling, and (for rolls) a nori wrapper make up a piece. Wasabi and pickled ginger come on the side, along with soy sauce for dipping.
Toppings and fillings
- Tuna (maguro), the classic topping
- Salmon (sake), a standard nigiri topping
- Eel, which is cooked
- Shrimp (ebi)
- Tamago, an egg omelet used on nigiri
- Cucumber and avocado as roll fillings
Tuna sells by cut. Akami is the lean red meat, and the fatty belly cuts sold as toro sushi cost more because each fish yields far less of them (Chowhound).
Eel is the clearest exception to the raw-fish assumption. Unagi sushi is always cooked because raw eel blood is toxic, according to The Dragon Trip.
Nori
Nori is dried seaweed made from red algae of the genus Pyropia, and it wraps maki, temaki, and gunkan.
Older FAO documentation lists nori under the genus name Porphyra, so both names circulate.
Sheets absorb moisture from the air and degrade, which is why hand rolls are meant to be eaten right after assembly.
Wasabi, gari, and soy sauce
Real wasabi is the grated rhizome of Eutrema japonicum, with a clean heat that fades fast. The common substitute is horseradish and mustard colored green, and in Japan horseradish goes by the name seiyo wasabi, “western wasabi” (Wikipedia).
Many substitute products contain only 1 to 2% wasabi powder, and most are made entirely from horseradish colored with chlorophyll, according to AGROLAB LUFA (2025).
Wikipedia adds that a horseradish and mustard powder is used at a majority of sushi restaurants outside Japan, reputable ones included.
Real wasabi loses flavor about 15 minutes after grating, so chefs grate to order and place it between the fish and the rice.
Gari, the sweet pickled ginger, cleanses the palate between pieces.
Shoyu works as a dipping condiment and not as a rice seasoning, since vinegared rice arrives already seasoned.
Where Sushi Comes From
Sushi began as a preservation method, with fish packed in rice and left to ferment. Vinegar replaced that fermentation in the Edo period (1603-1867), which produced the quick, fresh style people eat now.
The full history of sushi goes further than this section does.
From narezushi to haya-zushi
- Narezushi, where fish was fermented with salt and rice and the rice was then thrown away
- Namanare, a Muromachi period (1336-1573) style with shorter fermentation, where the rice was eaten with the fish
- Haya-zushi, or “fast sushi,” of the Edo period, flavored with vinegar instead of fermentation
Chirashi, inari, maki, and nigiri all descend from haya-zushi, according to Wikipedia’s history entry.
Narezushi never disappeared. It survives as a regional specialty, with funa-zushi from Shiga Prefecture as the example Wikipedia names.
Sources disagree on when fermented fish and rice reached Japan. Wikipedia ties narezushi’s spread to wet-field rice farming in the Yayoi period, The Dragon Trip dates the first Japanese developments to about the 8th century, and EBSCO says the ninth.
None of the three explains the gap. The Dragon Trip adds that the technique itself came from China and Southeast Asia.
Hanaya Yohei and the rise of nigiri
Hanaya Yohei (1799-1858) is the chef credited with nigiri.
Wikipedia says he invented or perfected it in 1824 at his shop in Ryogoku, in what was then Edo, and adds that accounts also place it in the 1820s or 1830s.
Nigiri was the fast food of the chonin, the townsperson class. Early pieces used rice about three times the size of a modern one.
Edomae is the Tokyo style built on catch from Tokyo Bay and sold at street stalls, meant to stop fish from spoiling. Chef Mitsuhiro Araki told Cathay Pacific that “the original Edomae sushi wasn’t eaten raw.”
How sushi reached a mass audience
Yoshiaki Shiraishi (1914-2001) opened the first conveyor belt sushi restaurant, Mawaru Genroku Sushi, in Higashiosaka in 1958.
He got the idea from beer bottles riding a conveyor at an Asahi brewery, and spent five years developing the belt.
The Osaka World Expo showing in 1970 set off a boom in conveyor belt sushi. In 1978 the utility-model rights expired and new chains entered (Sushi Walker).
Japan Travel reports one more theory. After the 1923 Kanto earthquake, Tokyo sushi chefs who returned to their hometowns carried the style across Japan.
Is Sushi Safe to Eat?
Raw fish can bring parasites, and raw or mishandled seafood can bring bacteria. Freezing rules go after the parasites and don’t guarantee protection from the bacteria.
Section 3-402.11 of the FDA Food Code covers parasite destruction, and fish served raw has to meet one of these conditions:
- Freeze and store at -4 F (-20 C) or below for 7 days (168 hours)
- Freeze at -31 F (-35 C) or below until solid, then store at -31 F for 15 hours
- Freeze at -31 F until solid, then store at -4 F for 24 hours
- Keep records of freezing times and temperatures for 90 days after service or sale
The freezing methods follow Minnesota’s 2019 rule text, which reproduces the Food Code wording. The 90-day figure comes from Skagit County, Washington (2024) guidance.
Parasites and the freezing rule
The target is Anisakis, a roundworm whose larvae lodge in the stomach or intestine and cause severe abdominal pain.
A 2022 study in the CDC journal Emerging Infectious Diseases estimated 19,737 anisakiasis cases a year in Japan across 2018 and 2019, using health insurance claims. Official food poisoning statistics recorded 478 patients in 2018 and 336 in 2019.
Raw fish can carry Anisakis, which is the short answer to whether sushi has parasites.
A handful of fish and seafood skip the freezing rule altogether.
- Molluscan shellfish
- Scallop product made only of the shucked adductor muscle
- Tuna of listed Thunnus species, including albacore, yellowfin, bigeye, and bluefin
- Aquacultured fish such as salmon, raised in net-pens or on land and fed formulated feed with no live parasites
- Fish eggs removed from the skein and rinsed
Minnesota’s 2014 rule text listed two freezing methods and a tuna exemption. Its 2019 text lists three methods and adds exemptions for aquacultured fish, scallop muscle, and rinsed fish eggs.
Wasabi, soy sauce, and vinegar do not prevent anisakiasis, according to Tokyo Weekender’s report on Japanese health guidance.
Bacteria and what freezing does not cover
CDC’s 2015 investigation linked 65 Salmonella infections to frozen raw tuna imported from Indonesia.
Of 45 people who described what they ate, 44 had sushi containing raw tuna. The recalled product included ground frozen yellowfin, a species on the exemption list above.
The tuna was frozen and still carried Salmonella.
Freezing is a parasite control, not a sterilization step.
What “sushi grade” means
The shorthand version is fish frozen at -31 F for 15 hours. The rule itself has three freezing methods and five exemptions, and section 3-402.11 never uses the phrase “sushi grade.”
The Sushi FAQ describes the label as a marketing term with no regulatory definition.
A fish sold as sushi grade doesn’t have to be frozen at all if it falls under an exemption. Ask the fishmonger or restaurant whether the fish was frozen for parasite destruction or is exempt, and ignore the label.
Health inspectors check the paper trail instead. Fairfax County, Virginia, requires a supplier letter that names each frozen species.
Who should avoid raw sushi
Pregnancy is the clearest case. FoodSafety.gov lists sushi among the foods to avoid, because raw seafood can carry parasites or bacteria, including Listeria.
CDC’s outbreak report says people at higher risk should not eat undercooked animal products such as raw seafood.
FDA and EPA fish advice tells young children to avoid raw fish, and a separate piece looks at whether kids can eat sushi.
Mercury is its own issue. The Connecticut Department of Public Health notes that swordfish and bluefin tuna can run high in mercury while salmon runs low, and treats that advice as distinct from bacterial concerns.
How to Eat Sushi
Nigiri goes down in one bite, fish side dipped in a little soy sauce, using fingers or chopsticks. Sashimi is the exception that calls for chopsticks.
Eating a piece of nigiri
- Wipe your hands with the oshibori, the hot towel served before the meal, if you plan to use fingers.
- Pour a small amount of soy sauce into the dish, since you can always add more.
- Pick the nigiri up from the sides and turn it so the fish faces down.
- Touch the fish side to the soy sauce and skip the shake, because the rice soaks it up and falls apart.
- Eat the whole piece in one bite.
- Take ginger on its own between pieces, never on top of one.
The steps draw on MasterClass, Sushi Sushi (UK), and a Tokyo guide from Urban Adventures.
The chef has already placed the wasabi, so skip stirring more into the soy sauce dish. KUU executive chef Adison Lee told ABC13 (2024) that he does not mind diners adding wasabi or soy sauce, as long as the two stay separate.
Rolls are harder to dip. MasterClass advises against submerging a whole roll because it falls apart.
Lee also suggests starting with lighter fish and moving to fattier ones, eating rolls after nigiri and sashimi, and finishing with tamago.
Sushi bar, omakase, and conveyor belt formats
| Format | How you order | What to know |
|---|---|---|
| Sushi-ya (sushi bar) | From the chef (itamae) or server | Full courses can start with sashimi and grilled fish |
| Omakase counter | The itamae chooses | Chef seasons each piece |
| Conveyor belt (kaiten) | Belt, tablet, or chef | Plate color or pattern sets the price |
At an omakase sushi counter you don’t order anything. The itamae picks the sequence from the day’s best ingredients, according to Cathay Pacific’s etiquette guide.
At Mitsuhiro Araki’s counter there are no saucers of soy sauce or wasabi, because every piece arrives already seasoned. Eat each piece as soon as it lands, since the rice is best warm.
Conveyor belt places have their own manners. Stack empty plates at your seat, leave alone any plate you won’t take, and never return a plate to the belt (Samurai Tours). The bill is counted by plate, and Sushi Walker notes that color or pattern marks the price.
Sushi FAQ
How do you pronounce sushi?
Say it “soo-shee,” in two syllables.
The first vowel is a long oo, and the sh is a soft hushing sound. Dictionaries give the phonetic spelling as sushee.
Is sushi healthy?
It can be, when the roll stays seafood-rich and simple, since salmon and tuna supply omega-3 fats.
The rice carries most of the calories, though. One roll cut into six to nine pieces can reach 500 calories, says Isabel Maples of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics (TIME).
Tempura, spicy mayo, and cream cheese add fat, which decides how healthy sushi turns out for each roll.
How do you make sushi at home?
Cook short-grain rice, fold in the vinegar, sugar, and salt mixture while the rice is warm, then let it cool.
Shape it by hand for nigiri, or roll it in nori with a bamboo mat for maki.
Stick to cooked or vegetable fillings unless the fish was frozen for parasite destruction.
How long does it take to become a sushi chef?
It depends on the school or the counter. Insyokujin University, a vocational school with campuses in Tokyo, Osaka, and elsewhere in Japan, says its sushi chef course can train beginners in three months, according to Sushi Walker’s school listing.
Traditional counters set a longer bar. The Japanese government’s Highlighting Japan magazine says training to become a fully fledged sushi chef is supposed to take at least ten years under a master chef.
Is the California roll real sushi?
Yes. Vinegared rice with crab and avocado meets the rice-based definition, even though the roll was developed outside Japan to suit American diners.
What does sushi taste like?
The rice tastes tangy, sweet, and salty from its seasoning, and that contrast lets the topping stand out.
Toppings change the picture, from lean akami to buttery, fatty toro, so what sushi tastes like varies by piece.
Which Sushi to Order First
A first sushi order should start with cooked pieces and reach raw fish last, after the counter has shown where its fish comes from.
A cooked roll or tamago nigiri makes a safe opener. Raw nigiri comes next, from a counter that names its supplier. Omakase can wait until the soy sauce and rice habits feel natural.
Tuna and salmon, two standard raw toppings, both sit on the Food Code exemption list when they are listed Thunnus species or farmed on parasite-free feed. For them the safeguard is the supplier and not the freezer, so ask what statement the restaurant holds on file.
The trade-off is pacing. Starting with a roll breaks from the sequence a chef plans for a full meal, and the omakase step restores it.
A longer list of sushi roll types shows which cooked roll fits as the first order.
