The Sushi Economy Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy

by Issenberg, Sasha

• ISBN13: 9781592402946
• ISBN10: 1592402941
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-05-03
• Publisher: Gotham

Summary

One generation ago, sushi's narrow reach ensured that sports fishermen who caught tuna in most of the world sold the meat for pennies as cat food. Today, the fatty cuts of tuna known as toro are among the planet's most coveted luxury foods, worth hundreds of dollars a pound and capable of losing value more quickly than any other product on earth. So how has one of the world's most popular foods gone from being practically unknown in the U.S. to being served in towns all across America, and in such a short span of time? Sushi aficionados and newcomers alike will be surprised to learn the true history, intricate business, and international allure behind this fascinating food. A riveting combination of culinary biography, behind-the-scenes restaurant detail, and a unique exploration of globalisation's dynamics, journalist Sasha Issenberg traces sushi's journey from Japanese street snack to global delicacy.

Author Biography

Sasha Issenberg has written for Slate, The Washington Monthly, Inc., Philadelphia, and George, where he served as a contributing editor.

Table of Contents

Introduction: World Gone Raw	p. ix
The Freight Economy
Prince Edward Island, Canada The Day of the Flying Fish: The birth of modern sushi	p. 1
Tokyo, Japan Tsukiji: Shopping at a global market	p. 15
Narita, Japan The Hub: How Narita Airport became Japan's top fishing harbor	p. 31
Tokyo, Japan Fast-Food Metropolis: Feeding sushi's hometown	p. 47
The Food Economy
Los Angeles, California Are You Ready for Rice Sandwiches?: How sushi became the favorite food of the capital of the twentieth century	p. 79
Paradise Island, Bahamas New Style: How a Japanese-Peruvian Angeleno created a global sushi vernacular	p. 107
Austin, Texas Lone Star: The education of a sushi shokunin in cowboy country	p. 131
The Fish Economy
Gloucester, Massachusetts Imperfect Storms: Weathering boom and bust in the hunt for Boston bluefin	p. 165
Port Lincoln, Australia Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch: How the tuna cowboys became tuna barons	p. 195
Madrid, Spain The Raw and the Crooked: On the trail of pirates, launderers, and tuna's black market	p. 225
The Future Economy
Dalian, China Port of Call: A Japanese mogul plots to take the world's last sushi frontier	p. 253
Epilogue Tokyo, Japan Raw Deals	p. 269
Acknowledgments	p. 283
Notes	p. 291
Bibliography	p. 301
Index	p. 309
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