The History and Evolution of Sushi

I must admit, my favorite past time is eating and when I'm not eating, I love to sleep. I love every type of food except coconuts and everything that I'm allergic to. Sushi, however, is definitely one of my true loves. I love everything from sashimi (raw salmon and tuna please!) to a Philadelphia (smoked salmon and cream cheese heaven!). Learning about Japan this week gave me an intensified craving for a Japanese smorgasbord. To give thanks to where it's due for the blessing we call sushi, I decided to look into its origins.

The origins of sushi are widely unknown, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy an old wise tale. An elderly Japanese woman once said that she hid her rice in osprey nets because she didn't want anyone stealing her rice. The rice began to ferment and when osprey's fish scraps mixed in it, it had a wonderful taste. Thus starting the invention of sushi. Historically, it has no evidence.

A second possibility is that early Chinese texts wrote about salted fish being placed in cooked rice initiating the fermentation process. Mix salt and lactic acid together, bacterial growth on the fish is halted.

A third hypothesis is that sushi entered Japan around the ninth century when Buddhism began to spread. Buddhism calls for strict dietary guidelines that includes abstaining from the consumption of meat. Luckily for Japan, there is a large supply of water and fish to catch.

In the mid-1700s, people starting developing ways to cut the fermentation process of sushi in half. Around this time, chefs added vinegar to the rice with a layer of fish then placed it in a box that was covered for a couple of hours then served. A wonderful man named Hanaya Yohei created nigiri sushi and opened up the first sushi stall. He figured he would make this into a fast food stall by cooking rice and adding rice vinegar and salt. He would take the rice and make it into a ball then placed a thin slice of freshly caught fish then served. Sushi hit the United States first in Los Angeles then sushi spread like wild fire across the United States. Now, I can enjoy sushi whenever I want (or at least when I have enough funds for it.)

http://www.pbs.org/food/the-history-kitchen/history-of-sushi/

Mahatma Gandhi

Mahatma Gandi, "the great souled-one" was born as Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi. He was born on October 2, 1869 in India. His father was a successful chief minister in India and his mom was a very religious woman. When he was 19 years old, Gandhi was sent to London like most upper and middle class Indians to study law and become somewhat westernized. His law career in India was a failure so he moved his wife and children with him in South Africa where he met a little more success. It was not until he lived almost 20 years in South Africa did he realize that the British were manipulating Indian culture to put the people against each other. It is important to remember that India did have a caste system, but the British found another way to suppress them and cause more internal conflict despite unifying India as one which was never done before. In 1913, Gandhi and the British and Indian governments pressured the South African government for their killing and imprisonment of Indians there. He lead a resistance movement against the British government and was imprisoned for two years from 1922 to 1924. When he came back in 1930, he lead yet another civil movement but retired in 1934. In January 1948, Gandhi fasted as he often did when pushing for changes. He fasted for 12 days until Delhi found peace, but on his way there he was shot to death.

http://www.history.com/topics/mahatma-gandhi