The Adventures of Sushi Stu

I have been looking for some gifts for my sushi loving friends who already have everything they need to whip up their favourite Japanese meals.

There are some weird and wonderful sushi products available ranging from the relatively normal to the outright bizarre and there is something for every room of your house.

You can decorate your kitchen with all sorts of sushi nick nacks like fridge magnets shaped like sushi. Or, brew a nice cup of Japanese green tea in a sushi tea cup with pictures of your favourite food.

For the bathroom, there is a tray of sushi soap – California rolls, nigiri, gunkanmaki with soap roe – to keep you clean and fresh or wash up after handling raw fish for your real sushi. If you cut yourself with a super sharp sashimi knife then you can dress the cut with sushi plasters.

Some of the products look scarily realistic, like sushi USB sticks. You can have a delicious looking nigiri hanging out of the side of your computer; just be careful not to mistake it for lunch or you might lose a tooth.

If you are bored in front of the television, you can knit some sushi. Yes that’s right knit, as there are patterns and kits to whip up a woolly platter and one website even has a pattern for a sushi toilet roll cover. And super fans have been known to pass the time by knocking up sushi shapes with their kid’s Lego.

Not content with just eating sushi themselves, the dog crazed Americans have invented sushi shaped dog biscuits. They may be even more expensive than eating real sushi but your canine friend will love you for it.

And for the sweet toothed fanatics you can buy chocolate sushi made from white and dark chocolate, fruity butter cream and crispy rice carefully moulded into a mouth watering delight.

And that’s not all, sushi tyre covers, sushi erasers, sushi Christmas tree ornaments are just the tip of the iceberg. It seems there is no end to the sushi madness you can buy. It’s worth a look but be warned – don’t do it on an empty stomach unless you have a good supply of rolls to snack on.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites

sushi bridge

I have said before that eating in Japan is not just about sensational flavours and textures – your food needs to look fantastic as well.

There is a long tradition of elaborate tableware to serve and present sushi which adds to the dining experience without the need of a human model to eat it off.

Diners in sushi restaurants are often treated to a feast of different sushi rolls, pickles and delicacies, served on a range of interesting and unique tableware.

Boat shaped serving dishes of various sizes are often used to serve sushi and sashimi. They are made of light wood, varnished or lacquered to be easy to clean. The boat connection is fairly obvious as fresh fish and shellfish are at the heart of the finest sushi rolls and nigiri and many of the serving dishes are based on traditional-style fishing boats.

Another popular design is a bridge, often in a traditional shape like the old wooden style bridges or Nihonbashi (literally translated as Japan Bridge). Nihonibashi is also a district of Tokyo which has grown from a bridge of the same name. A wooden bridge was first constructed in 1603 and a stone bridge now stands on the same site.

Way back when the bridge was first constructed in Japan’s Edo period, Nihonbashi was a major commercial district and the site of the all-important fish market. The fish market was destroyed in a major earthquake in 1923 and was relocated to the Tsukiji district which is now the biggest fish market in the world with more than 400 different types of seafood traded and sold by hundreds of independent wholesale vendors.

The bridge serving dishes look very much like the original Nihonbashi bridge with its steep curve and detailed wooden railings. And your food does look fabulous arranged on the middle of the bridge which has space at each end for wasabi and pickled ginger.

If you like to entertain your guests at a sushi party, a unique serving dish is a great way to add the wow factor if they are not already impressed with your excellent cooking.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites