Sustainable Sushi
Yesterday my nice neighbours invited me to share their Thai take-away dinner, as a thank-you for walking their dogs this week, and also fed me dark chocolate, fresh strawberries, and two kinds of single-malt whisky. I got very giggly. :)
So, today, when I had walked into town in order to do some shopping and found myself absolutely starving upon arrival, I thought I could splurge on some sushi. So I went to my favourite sushi bar, only to find that the whole chain (Ikizukuri) had gone bankrupt and closed down. O.o
BUT. In its place was a new restaurant, with a wholly new concept: Scandinavian (even Scanian) sushi, based on local and sustainable foodstuffs! Gone was all the endangered fish from the other side of the planet, and ingredients that can't be produced locally had been dispensed with*. Instead of miso soup, they served a home-made fish bouillon with leeks and cream. Instead of green tea, they served pine needle infusion (x10 as much vitamin C as in a glass of orange juice). Instead of pickled ginger, they served pickled red onions. Instead of king prawns that ruin the environment, endangered tuna, and farmed salmon, etc., they served wild char from the north of Sweden, rainbow trout, zander and lemon-marinated cod. The cool modernistic decor of the old sushi bar had been replaced with a pretty flowered wall-paper, old oil paintings, and old second-hand wooden furniture. Needless to say, I found the atmosphere much improved. :)
I had sashimi of the above mentioned kinds of fish, and it was very yummy. The char especially was delicious! Since I declined rice with my fish, it was served with a green salad and pickled red onions. Very nice, friendly and helpful service, too!
*Rice was one of the things they had not dispensed with; nori, wasabi and soy sauce were the others. They said that they had tried to substitute horseradish for the wasabi, but found that it didn't really do the job, and that some flavours needed to be kept in order for it to remain sushi. But they did have the option of having cracked barley instead of rice with the sashimi and chirashi courses. They also intended to serve some local game dishes further along -- we have a lot of deer and wild boar in Scania.
The idea is absolutely brilliant, and I will definitely go there again! Imagine that -- sushi with a clean conscience! In Japan, of course, the ingredients and most of the common fishes used for sushi are locally produced/caught (if not all sustainable, anymore), but over here they certainly aren't. And the courses weren't particularly expensive, either, for sushi -- their stance was that if a kind of fish is very expensive, it's because it's getting rare or has to be imported from afar, and then shouldn't be used anyway. Which means they can keep the prices reasonable.
--
Also, my new computer is more or less working, and Microsoft gladly gave me a new product key by phone for my old XP Home, so that is good. And now I'm going to go and make some dinner.
So, today, when I had walked into town in order to do some shopping and found myself absolutely starving upon arrival, I thought I could splurge on some sushi. So I went to my favourite sushi bar, only to find that the whole chain (Ikizukuri) had gone bankrupt and closed down. O.o
BUT. In its place was a new restaurant, with a wholly new concept: Scandinavian (even Scanian) sushi, based on local and sustainable foodstuffs! Gone was all the endangered fish from the other side of the planet, and ingredients that can't be produced locally had been dispensed with*. Instead of miso soup, they served a home-made fish bouillon with leeks and cream. Instead of green tea, they served pine needle infusion (x10 as much vitamin C as in a glass of orange juice). Instead of pickled ginger, they served pickled red onions. Instead of king prawns that ruin the environment, endangered tuna, and farmed salmon, etc., they served wild char from the north of Sweden, rainbow trout, zander and lemon-marinated cod. The cool modernistic decor of the old sushi bar had been replaced with a pretty flowered wall-paper, old oil paintings, and old second-hand wooden furniture. Needless to say, I found the atmosphere much improved. :)
I had sashimi of the above mentioned kinds of fish, and it was very yummy. The char especially was delicious! Since I declined rice with my fish, it was served with a green salad and pickled red onions. Very nice, friendly and helpful service, too!
*Rice was one of the things they had not dispensed with; nori, wasabi and soy sauce were the others. They said that they had tried to substitute horseradish for the wasabi, but found that it didn't really do the job, and that some flavours needed to be kept in order for it to remain sushi. But they did have the option of having cracked barley instead of rice with the sashimi and chirashi courses. They also intended to serve some local game dishes further along -- we have a lot of deer and wild boar in Scania.
The idea is absolutely brilliant, and I will definitely go there again! Imagine that -- sushi with a clean conscience! In Japan, of course, the ingredients and most of the common fishes used for sushi are locally produced/caught (if not all sustainable, anymore), but over here they certainly aren't. And the courses weren't particularly expensive, either, for sushi -- their stance was that if a kind of fish is very expensive, it's because it's getting rare or has to be imported from afar, and then shouldn't be used anyway. Which means they can keep the prices reasonable.
--
Also, my new computer is more or less working, and Microsoft gladly gave me a new product key by phone for my old XP Home, so that is good. And now I'm going to go and make some dinner.