Don't do it!

[talentedmrraber]

Do not put ginger on top of your sushi. The sharp taste of the ginger is used for cleansing the palate between pieces of sushi, so that the subtle taste of each fish can be fully appreciated. Putting the ginger on top of your sushi subverts its proper purpose.

Also, don't chew with your mouth open.

Comments

[agnoster]

See, that's the same mindset that says you can't put milk in Earl Grey. What if you like it? (I'm a little bit more on the purist side myself when it comes to this question, but if someone likes milk in their Earl Grey, who am I to tell them it's Wrong?)

What if someone just likes ginger with their sushi? Me, I kind of like it.

[talentedmrraber]

Milk in Earl Gray is OK by me. It just seems perverse to use something that is meant to enhance the perception of subtle flavors for the purpose of drowning out those flavors. It's like looking backwards through a pair of binoculars. You could do it, but I don't give it my seal of approval.

[agnoster]

Oh man, don't tell me you've never looked backwards through binoculars! You, my friend, are seriously missing out. (If you think I'm joking, try it sometime - the perspective is really trippy, especially if you move around a little.)

Anyway, I'd argue that using things for other than their "intended purpose" is the sole source of human progress. I'm not going to argue putting ginger on sushi is going to cure cancer, but the impetus to do things however might make sense to you shouldn't be stamped out just because it's not how the pieces were meant to go together. I frequently used LEGOs to build something totally different from what was on the package, and quite enjoyed it.

[talentedmrraber]

Yes, I've looked through binoculars backward, and it's kind of fun, but I certainly wouldn't recommend, say, a bird-watcher to try it for finding birds.

Anyhow, the target audience for this post was not intrepid scientists boldly flouting conventional usage, but ignoramuses who don't know the conventions to flout. If they want to make an educated decision to not be able to appreciate the flavors of their food, more power to them I suppose.

[agnoster]

Ah, but see, you're supposing a specific purpose. Looking backwards through binoculars is fine for a good time, but not if you're trying to find birds. Likewise, I'd posit that putting ginger or too much wasabi or soy sauce on your sushi is fine if you're just out for a good time, but not if you're trying to professionally critique a sushi place (for instance

[talentedmrraber]

This ginger thing is certainly a convention associated with sushi, although I suppose its origin is Japanese. Do a Google search for "how to eat sushi" and check out the first n results. All of them agree that ginger is to be eaten between pieces to cleanse the palate

[agnoster]

Here's the thing, though: becoming a connoisseur of X requires some non-zero investment. Now, multiply it by the different types of food, drink, music, etc. that you consume. There's some point of diminishing returns, where we have to accept we can't be connoisseurs of *everything*. I take my appreciation of beer, coffee, tea, whiskey and wine relatively seriously (though not nearly as seriously as some), but not so much with sushi, pizza, or burgers. Perhaps this is a personal failing on my part - but I enjoy them all the same

[ladymedb]

I think really all one has to do is look around one at a sushi restaurant to know the thing about the ginger.

Although, I would not look around myself at a sushi restaurant if I wanted lessons in how to hold chopsticks correctly.

[agnoster]

I dunno. Maybe I'm just terribly unobservant, but I've eaten a good amount of sushi and never made this observation, nor have I ever heard someone mention this practice before now. I'm pretty sure that if you took a random sampling of people, very few would know ginger is to be eaten between rolls to cleanse the palate. In fact, I'm willing to take 10:1 odds the majority of a random sample wouldn't know, and 2:1 odds if you sampled people actually eating sushi. (This doesn't make it any less right - just not "convention" in the U. S.)

[ladymedb]

Wow. I don't know. Maybe I only hang around sushi snobs, and maybe people don't know for a fact what the ginger is for, but I've rarely if ever seen people try to put it on top of the rolls.

Now, if you told me that only a few people in the US knew that kappa maki is essentially to cleanse the palate between pieces, I'd be a little more credulous.

[ladymedb]

* and I've seen some BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAD sushi manners in my time.

[agnoster]

Man, I don't even know what kappa maki *is*. The most common use I've seen for the ginger is probably decoration - i.e. people who don't touch it, ever. (For whatever reason - I think ginger's delicious. I'd probably take the ginger with no sushi over sushi with no ginger, depending on how hungry I was.) And I'd imagine that your social circles are much closer to sushi snobs than 90% of the American population (no real data, just a guess).

At some point, I saw someone do the following: dip ginger in soy sauce, place on roll, devour. I tried it, and damn if it wasn't good. So I've stuck with the method ever since. It may be uncouth, but it sure is tasty!

[ladymedb]

I take your point that if you like it you like it, but for my part, if I'm paying $8 for two slices of sashimi, I'm damn well going to taste it!

[hydrobromic]

Oh my! That image makes me giggle :-)

I am reminded of Max's anecdote about eating some good chocolate with you (Jesse). It came with instructions about the "correct" way to eat chocolate. You have to rub it with your fingers to release the aromas, sniff it, lay it on your tongue and let it melt, etc. While these steps might serve some specific, subtle puproses, Max and I agreed that paying that much attention to your food is the backbone of the experience (rather than dogmatic observance of some steps).

I don't think that stopping to chew before choking down your food is really forcing you into the dismal zone of diminishing marginal returns for your effort. Neither is trying your food with or without different condiments. You're hardly being forced to become a connoisseur (or connoswooze) by eating with different condiments.

[talentedmrraber]

Right. I do sympathize with Yitz's sentiment that effete, latte-drinking coastal elites shouldn't tell average Americans how to eat their own goddamn sushi, but I still think that people who take a certain thing seriously deserve to be listened to, and, unless anyone has a good reason not to, taken up on their suggestions. It's true that just paying close attention yields great rewards, but I think that connoswars and connoswoozes settle on certain conventions for a reason---namely, because they really do heighten the enjoyment of something in the long run.

I respect the response that people can't always be bothered---I can't be bothered to get that serious about my bike or my computer, for instance---but that doesn't mean that I don't know that some people know better. There's no effort involved in abstaining from putting ginger on sushi, so I'd encourage everyone to at least give that method a shot before resuming their ginger-on-top ways.

[ladymedb]

"Yes, I've looked through binoculars backward, and it's kind of fun, but I certainly wouldn't recommend, say, a bird-watcher to try it for finding birds."

You mean unless the bird-watcher himself were a bird, not unlike your fine feathered avatar.