Wrong Handling of Soy Sauce, Ginger

Preparing sushi is an art – so is eating sushi properly. Mistakes are often made in the process. To avoid the typical faux pas, we have put together an instruction manual for sushi for you.

Common sushi mistakes to watch out for

• Real Japanese sushi often doesn’t have much in common with the sushi that is offered in this country. Traditional sushi consists of rice and fish or rice and vegetables, each wrapped in a sheet of seaweed. In this country, however, you will also find other ingredients in sushi that do not belong. In the Japanese restaurant, you should therefore order the traditional version.
• In addition to plaice and squid, other seafood such as scallops is also used for real sushi. However, you won’t find salmon in Japanese sushi, it’s an atypical variant.
• For the Japanese, by the way, there are sushi and sushi rolls. If you order sushi rolls from the Japanese, you always get six pieces. Sushi, on the other hand, is only a bite – a snack, so to speak.

Eat sushi – at Maki, it’s all done by hand

If you’ve been avoiding sushi because you can’t use chopsticks, here’s the good news:

• Sushi is traditionally eaten with your hands. At least, that’s true of the well-known sushi rolls called maki.
• For nigiri, however, you’ll need to use chopsticks. Don’t try to dig into small bites of sushi. You won’t be able to bite off sushi without it all falling apart and falling off. So grab it boldly: sushi is always eaten in one bite.

Soy sauce: You should avoid this mistake

• Nigiri, i.e. raw fish on pressed rice, is served with a soy sauce. However, this sauce may only be used on the fish, never on the rice. It is the main ingredient in sushi and is prepared with a lot of time and love.
• The rice is seasoned with vinegar, sugar, and salt – a Japanese person would never put soy sauce on the rice. While maki is eaten with just your hands, nigiri requires you to use chopsticks.
• Eating with your hands is taboo here. You really shouldn’t mix wasabi and soy sauce either. While accepted, it does not conform to traditional Japanese sushi etiquette.
• Pickled ginger is usually served with sushi. However, it is not intended to be eaten with sushi. On the contrary – that immediately disqualifies you as a sushi connoisseur.
• The ginger has a completely different task. It is said to neutralize the taste in the mouth and aid in digestion.