Would you believe it – knowing that sushi’s original is a fermented fish dish, left to last for a year? It’s called Funazushi.
Nowadays, who doesn’t know about Japan’s famous fresh sushi. However, you may be shocked to learn about its origin.
Thousands of years ago, along the Mekong River, Southeast Asian residents with wet rice cultivation knew how to compost food to store through the rainy season. By the 2nd century, the same method was also recorded in China.
Around the 7th – 8th centuries, the method of fermenting food from Southeast Asia and China gradually spread to Japan. The people of Japan began brewing fish with salt and fermented rice – called Narezushi.
Narezushi.
Especially Shiga Prefecture, with the largest freshwater lake Biwa in Japan. Lake Biwa is home to funa fish – a typical Japanese carp, which is easy to clean the intestines and scales of fish, helping to preserve it longer.
Therefore, Shiga Prefecture alone has developed the extremely famous fermented funa fish , called Funazushi . Also because the silage method produces lactic acid (which helps the fish not to go bad), Funazushi has a taste ranging from sour to… very sour, depending on the place of processing!
Again, Funazushi is just a small branch of Narezushi, but it has the longest life and still exists today. However, they still have to go through certain changes.
Shiga Prefecture has developed a very famous fermented funa fish called Funazushi.
By the 14th century, people no longer steamed rice and then fermented it to marinate fish. Instead, it’s rice vinegar. This helps the brewing process to go faster while still keeping the characteristic sour taste.
At the same time, they combined eating Funazushi fish with steamed rice – we are already starting to see the shape of modern sushi.
By the 18th century, “modern” sushi was perfected in Osaka and then spread to the ancient capital Edo (present-day Tokyo), becoming very popular.
One book records that, for every 10,000 square meters, one soba shop and two sushi shops can be found. That means there are twice as many sushi shops as soba noodle shops!
Sushi painting by 19th century artist Utagawa Hiroshige.
However, because it still involves fish fermentation, it takes a long time for the shops to process it. They have to constantly put up signs in front of the door to… notify customers of the time of food!
By the 20th century, the presence of modern refrigerators brought a new twist to sushi. People do not incubate fish but use fresh food, cut into pieces and place each piece on a rice ball (still mixed with vinegar). But it is not necessarily fish anymore, can be replaced with many other types of seafood.
From the end of the 20th century until now, sushi has become the “national” dish of Japan, which can be prepared and enjoyed quickly – quickly – within the same day.
And few people still know or remember Funazushi of the past, although this fermented fish is still persistent with the times.
As mentioned, the highlight of Funazushi is its characteristic smell, accompanied by a rather sour taste, like Western blue cheese or yogurt that has been aged for a long time. It also has a salty taste.
Funazushi fish can also be eaten with many other dishes, such as porridge, or deep fried to make tempura.
The Japanese also often drink sake or green tea to harmonize the overly strong taste of Funazushi. According to tradition, this dish is good for digestion and health and beauty in general.
The highlight of Funazushi is its distinctive smell.
But about 50 years ago, funa fish in Lake Biwa has become less and less, causing this dish in Shiga’s hometown to also increase in price. Moreover, because of the feat of processing, Funazushi gradually disappeared from the tables of modern Japanese families.
Fortunately, there are still Funazushi shops in Shiga Prefecture – including one owned by the Kitamura family that has passed 18 generations – which are “food museums” that preserve the original of the famous sushi.
Hopefully, in the future, if we have the opportunity to go to Japan, we can still challenge ourselves with this “smelly” but extremely interesting Funazushi!