Narezushi: How Fermented Fish Became Sushi

The first sushi was not a snack. It was a way to preserve fish for months by fermenting it in rice.

Long before nigiri, people in the rice-growing regions of mainland Southeast Asia preserved freshwater fish by packing it with salt and cooked rice. The rice fermented, producing lactic acid that kept the fish from spoiling. The rice itself was usually thrown away. Food historians such as Naomichi Ishige have argued that this technique began among rice-farming peoples of the Mekong region and spread through China to Japan.

Sushi as tax

In Japan this fermented fish, narezushi, became valuable enough to pay taxes with. Japan’s ancient legal codes, the Taihō and Yōrō codes of the early eighth century, set out taxes paid in goods, and the Engishiki, a book of government procedures completed in 927, lists provinces sending fermented fish and shellfish sushi to the imperial court as tribute.

A living tradition

The oldest style survives today as funazushi, made with crucian carp from Lake Biwa near Kyoto and fermented for a year or more. It has a strong, cheese-like flavor and is still made by families and specialist shops.

Part of the Boston Made Reader’s special collection Courage, Conscience & Service. Written for the Reader and free to read here.