Culinary event online: Sushi History Program with Eric Rath
Event Information
About this event
Sushi’s appearance in US grocery stores, usually coated in sauces and fried toppings, demonstrates how the once simple dish evolves as it globalizes. But sushi was a much different recipe 1,200 years ago when it was first mentioned in Japanese records. The likely derivation of “sushi” is “something sour” indicating that it was a fermented food, one that took months if not years to prepare. Sushi’s history is measured by the various attempts to hasten its fermentation to the point that fresh fish is synonymous with sushi today. Yet, in our culinary world where everyone now craves umami, “ancient” fermented sushi holds new possibilities of flavor to enrich our understanding of the culinary past and offer new taste profiles for the future beyond what we might think possible for Japanese food.
Eric C. Rath is a Professor of History at the University of Kansas in Lawrence. His book "Oishii: The History of Sushi" was released in April of 2021.
This event will be held over Zoom. The event codes are as follows:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87504837784?pwd=dFBFTTBQeGFpVnZEUElnNU5CaVVmUT09
Meeting ID: 875 0483 7784
Passcode: 599895
Organizer Culinary Historians of Southern California
Organizer of Culinary event online: Sushi History Program with Eric Rath
People with a passion for food beyond the knife and fork founded the Culinary Historians of Southern California in 1995 as an affiliate of the Los Angeles Public Library. Typical of library patrons, they sought an intellectual as well as gastronomic approach to food, but not at the expense of taking themselves so seriously that they would forget to have fun.
Today’s membership of about 250 men and women spans a range of ages and occupations. It comprises not only food professionals, from chefs, writers and academics to product purveyors and restaurateurs, but also people in fields such as marketing, television, theatre, and museums. And then there are those simply intrigued by the mysteries of food and pleasures of the table.
