Japanese cuisine is the third most popular in the world, behind only Chinese and Italian. Of course, the country’s gastronomical offerings span across a vast number of different dishes, but the best-known option from the Asian country has to be sushi. This unique culinary delight has swept across the world and has helped to put Japanese food on the map.

Numerous Sushi Outlets Found in Major Cities

It is easy to see just how popular Sushi is. There are now more than 4000 sushi restaurants found across the USA, highlighting the demand for bite-size rice rolls. Of all the joyous delights of Japanese cuisine, it’s sushi that appeals to the widest demographic. This could be down to the fact that there are just so many sumptuous selections to choose from. Chefs can get creative with their ideas, and there is a lot of potentials to fuse various flavors. There is such a culture around the food that a lot of people will go to restaurants to debate which tasty treat is the best.

In most of the world’s major cities, it is easy to find at least one sushi restaurant. Along with well-known chains like Yo! Sushi and Rock N’ Roll Sushi, there are plenty of hidden gems for foodies to find. Japanese food is now rated in the top five cuisines in the world, and there are various reasons why it has managed to reach this status.

Available in Almost Every Country

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In its early days in Japan, sushi was considered to be more of a fast-food option, sold predominantly from street stalls. As the country became more gentrified after World War II, a lot of these outdoor locations were forced to move inside due to hygiene concerns. This is when sushi made the transition to a fine dining experience. The dish has undergone many changes throughout its history as well, with Hanaya Yohei credited with inventing the fish on rice concept seen most ubiquitously today.

When seafood was promoted around the world, sushi quickly became a firm favorite in a wide variety of countries and cultures. Now, it is available almost everywhere, with most nations rating it among their favorite dishes alongside the likes of pizza and pasta. Some places have even started to create sushi in their style, allowing the cuisine to endure and evolve. For instance, Californian restaurants have famously conjured up some fusion options that appeal more to the tastes of American diners.

Helped by Popular Culture

The spread of sushi has been helped in some part by its prevalence in popular culture and entertainment. There are numerous entertainment options based on the food, which have helped to raise awareness of it. For example, at Betway online casino there is the Bushi Sushi slot title. It uses a Japanese theme and has various images of the tasty treats on the reels. This unique design has also been seen in several other mobile games. There are an incredible amount of sushi games on the market including Sushi Diner, Sushi Cat, The Sushi Spinnery, and Push Sushi. People who had never tried sushi before may have been influenced to do so by these titles.

Something that could be considered a turning point for sushi in the west was when it made a hilarious appearance in an episode of The Simpsons in 1991. At this time, it was considered more as a foreign delicacy and hadn’t yet taken the world by storm. In the episode, “One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish,” Homer and Marge went to a sushi restaurant where Homer eventually ended up eating poisonous fish. Sushi also appeared in The Sopranos, Sex, and The City, and Jackass: The Movie in the early 2000s. This is when its popularity began to spike in the west.

Sushi has enjoyed an incredible rise to worldwide notoriety, and it is only going to get more popular from here on. With it being so well-loved in countries around the planet, it would be great to see more fusion twists on the dish that blend different countries’ cuisines with sushi. This could come in the form of unique wine pairings or new recipes.