How We (Usually) Don’t Get Sick From Raw Sushi

Here’s the difference between delicious sushi, and dangerous undercooked chicken or hamburger

It’s almost anathema for me to admit it, living in the Bay Area, but it took me some time to come around on sushi.

Part of this uncertainty came from growing up in the Midwest, where there wasn’t much opportunity to really enjoy fresh fish. After all, any salt water fish, like tuna or salmon, will have to travel quite a ways to get to Minnesota — and does anyone really want to risk dodgy, gas station sushi?

It wasn’t until I started graduate school, out on the West Coast in California, that I started trying really good, really fresh sushi — and I was hooked. The good stuff is fresh, with a great flavor; it’s not “fishy” in the same way as cooked fish, but has a milder flavor that pairs great with the umami of soy sauce and wasabi.

(Don’t even get me started on the first time I tried wasabi, by the way. You know the story, I’m sure you’ve heard it before — thought it was some sort of avocado-based paste, like guacamole, put way too much in my mouth, and then spent the next several minutes gasping and gulping water.)