The California roll was invented by a Japanese-Canadian chef (2020)
insider.com
insider.com
1. It was the best sushi I've ever eaten. I love sushi but I'm not really a "sushi snob" - I'm more than happy getting some premade sushi at the grocery store (usually). But the quality at Tojo's was like nothing I'd ever experienced.
2. After I ate there, I wanted to research the "California roll inventor" story, and I remember finding a whole bunch of chefs that had claimed to invent the California roll. Too lazy to re-look up that info, but I distinctly remember being wary of the "California roll inventor" claim after that, mainly thinking it was quite possible a bunch of chefs came up with similar ideas independently.
I can't roll my own sushi. I don't have tools or the skills. But I've been making sushi at home in a way that I really enjoy and I thought I'd share. I make what I call a "sushi pile". Or, as my Asian wife and stepdaughter teasingly call "white guy sushi". The closest thing it might come to would be nigiri, but it's not quite that.
We buy frozen fish steaks (usually tuna or salmon). Thaw them out and slice them into small rectangles. Make a bowl of sushi rice. You know those seaweed snacks that come in the small rectangular plastic trays? We take two sheets of those and lay them flat on the cutting board. Put a plop of sushi rice on it. Put the fish on top, add sriracha mayo (made with Japanese mayo). Squirt some Japanese BBQ Sauce (we really like Bachan's), and a dollop of wasabi. If we're lucky, maybe, we have some fresh uni is on the table. Shove the whole thing in your mouth. They're large, so it's ungraceful.
When we have sushi night at home, the ingredients are all on the table and we just "build your own" as we eat. I understand if this sounds like a bastardization to purists, and maybe it's not even fair to call it sushi. But my family and I really enjoy it. Alternatively, it makes for really good poke bowl.
It's not particularly hard, just takes some trial and error. If you already make good rice you are almost done already, then it's just down to flavoring.
If you get a "California burger" it will have avocado on it
I read that quickly, ignored the "to food" component, and then imagined all Californians walking around with an avocado in their pocket at all times...
[1] https://www.themanual.com/food-and-drink/california-burrito/
How depressingly very China of them, what are Hong Kong noodles called: 1 country 1 system illegally annexed under extreme violence and duress noodles?
California stop - not quite full stop
Slight hint of derision anytime CA is added, I would say.
Though, that makes me wonder what ingredient the other 48 states would add. Suggestions welcome.
I associate it more with meaning "with spam".
For example, "Toast Hawaii" appeared in Germany in 1955, consisting of a slice of toasted white bread, one or two slices of cooked ham, a pineapple ring, a slice of processed cheese and a cocktail cherry, baked in an oven. Interestingly, I've read that that dish may be derived from an American "grilled spamwich" (but spam was not availble in Germany at the time). Likewise, "Steak Hawaii" (as well as "Schnitzel Hawaii") involves baking with pineapple rings and cheese.
I'm guessing someone somewhere associated cheese and pineapple with Hawaii in the 1950s as part of the general obsession with Hawaiian-inspired culture (e.g. tiki torches, fake lei garlands, ukuleles and luau-themed garden parties) and it caught on as an "exotic" twist on home cooking internationally (despite Hawaii and pineapples otherwise having no clear relation).
* texas -> supersized
* chicago (close enough) -> with green sweet pickle relish
When I was in Australia about ten years back, McDonald's was running a promo called "Tastes of America" with three themed burgers that were about what you'd expect: the California one had avocado and aioli or something, the Texas had salsa and onions, and the New York burger had extra pickles and garlic.
* Idaho -> potato
* Louisiana (or just New Orleans) -> Cajun spices
Given that a lot of origin stories tend to be created after the fact (e.g. infamously the board game Monopoly's origin story is largely fabricated as it was obviously based on an existing game already widely referred to as "the monopoly game" which in turn was originally based on "The Landlord's Game") I'm cautious about direct attributions without clear evidence.
It's entirely possible that "baked pineapple and cheese" already existed as a niche topping at the time the first restaurant offically added it to their menu. Interestingly Toast Hawaii may have been inspired by the American "grilled spamwich", which also included pineapple and (shredded) cheese but instead of cooked ham used spam, which wasn't available in Germany at the time.
Funnily, I am part of the (few?) people that actually prefer imitation crab meat to real crab meat. If only because cracking open crab shells is too troublesome.
You know you can pay other people to do that. Crab meat it also available in a can. Snails too, that always tickles me.
When I eat something someone else has made and I know it came predominantly from cans and jars I'll take something like: "Did you make this?! ... Wow! You sure know how to open a can!".
It's a type of fish cake, basically. It's white fish meat ground into a paste and formed. Surimi is made into things that aren't imitation crab, too! Fish balls and fish cakes and all sorts of things.
What is enough to know about this, that it is blended paste, which means it gradually becomes composed of the cheapest available ingredients as the cost is continually lowered, while the experience kept up using extenders, like bologna for example. This is about this kind of a food you have to know. Happy distressing!
My favorite was German Chocolate Cake, which is not from Germany but was invented by Samuel German.
"španělský ptáček" (spanish little bird) is egg, gherkin and spicy sausage wrapped in ground meat and baked.
"srbské risotto" (serbian risotto) not quite a risotto, just a rice, meat and vegetables dish
"anglická slanina" (english ham) just normal back bacon
"turecký med" (turkish honey) a sweet nougat and nut thing
"holandský řízek" (dutch schnitzel) breaded pork or chicken schnitzel but filled with cheese
"americké brambory" (american potatoes) potato wedges!
"pařížská pomazánka" (parisian spread) a mayo and vegetable sandwich spread
The California roll was created in the 70s by Ichiro Mashita, who worked at a sushi restaurant in Los Angeles called The Tokyo Kaikan.
Ironically, my understanding is that the Seattle version flowed back to Japan and became common there. His modifications to the traditional recipe went viral. I’m not a teriyaki aficionado, but this seems to be widely accepted as the history of modern teriyaki. It does make me wonder if I’ve ever had legacy teriyaki.
Have seen them doing shockingly un-Japanese things with food. Every "Japanese food" rule that I was taught by Japanese people was broken, again and again.
After a while I realized, America, Japan, the cultural strengths of these nations can be defined as personality types...
So you can personally have that rules-on match with your culture, but also totally not, or different depending on who you're hanging with...
And I ran into lots of Japanese people in Japan who were not very Japanese at all. Traditional Japanese people didn't like them (or their food) either.
So every time I hear about "this is so American" about some Japanese food thing, I have to wonder what that means in various contexts. Especially teriyaki which is not exactly a long shot for Japanese cooking.
Like what?
What are you talking about?
Kabayaki [0] has been around for centuries in Japan, and the only thing modern about 'teriyaki' made in Seattle was a likely mispronunciation of the phrases tori and yaki as grilled chicken and is the wide use of a cheap imitation of a tare (with a loose watery sauce) to use over animal/plant protein.
The use of Shoyu, Mirin, Sake as the trifecta of Japanese gastronomy is likely centuries older than that and likely pre-dates the inception of the US by several centuries.
Although I don't think the originator of the trend actually changed the recipe very much. I just mean it's popular because he made it popular.
Also, the headline is wrong, it was not a Canadian chef but rather a Japanese chef living in Canada.
According to wikipedia he moved to Canada in 1971 at age 21. It calls him Japanese-Canadian. I'd wager he's become a Canadian citizen by now, though I can't be bothered to research it. Do you have evidence that is he not Canadian?
If I move to the UK and invent something, is it automatically a British invention, or an American invention?
This is a pretty silly argument but the spirit (and purpose) of the invention is also clearly to make something more suitable for Canadian tastes of the time.
Well, certainly not European.
But, maybe - wouldn't it depend on where you filed your copyright/ patent/ trademark and possibly who you work for?
You're conflating a geographical area with a political arrangement. Not all Europeans are in the EU.
52 years? No, at best landed immigrant status. With the legendary speed of Canadian bureaucracy I expect he'll be made a citizen posthumously.
it's german's chocolate cake... the guy's last name was literally german
Just like hardly anyone says "baked Alaska-Florida cake".
All the more to his credit that he figured out what the locals could handle back then.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqQCyAQBgXY&t=115s
A quick check shows this is a big improvement in clarity - Outdoorsy Bacon, Outdoorsy Tire.
More ambitiously, there's renaming Canada to The Great Outdoors. The .ou country TLD is available and a lot less confusing than .ca
The Turkish word for a turkey is hindi, which literally means “Indian.” The original word in French, coq d’Inde, meant “rooster of India,” and has since shortened to dinde. These names likely derive from the common misconception that India and the New World were one and the same. In Portuguese, it’s literally a “Peru bird,” and in Malay, it’s called a “Dutch chicken.”