Food Tradition

Narezushi and Fermented Fish

Food Production and Processing Traditions

The lactic fermentation of fish packed in salt and rice, a preservation method that began in Southeast Asia's Mekong and Irrawaddy river basins to see fish through the region's heavy monsoons, with the earliest Chinese record of the technique dating to around the 2nd century CE. The method reached Japan by the Yayoi period, where it became narezushi, written sources appearing by the 10th century, and where its slow fermentation was gradually shortened over the centuries until Edo-period cooks began seasoning the rice with vinegar instead of fermenting it at all, giving rise to the fast, fresh style that became modern sushi. Narezushi itself survives today as a regional specialty, most famously funazushi made from crucian carp in Shiga Prefecture.

Facts

Origin Period, From (Year)

from 718 1

718 CE is the date of the Yoro Code, Japan earliest documentary reference; the technique itself is older and undated in mainland Southeast Asia.

Origin Region

The Mekong River basin of mainland Southeast Asia, where fish was preserved by packing it in fermented rice; the technique spread through southern China into Japan, where narezushi is first documented in the Yoro Code of 718 CE, a government record of fermented fish paid as tax tribute to the imperial court. 1

Connections