Course:HIST104/CaliforniaRoll

California Roll
HIST 104 - Topics in World History
Section:	99C
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California Roll

Introduction

The California Roll is a type of maki-zushi, a sushi roll which is made inside out. Traditional Japanese sushi has the nori, or seaweed, on the outside of the roll, while maki-zushi has rice on the outside of the roll. This is due to the cultural perceptions and preferences of people in North America. In Japan, the seaweed on the outside is desirable to provide a crunchy texture that augments the soft innards of the roll. The California roll is usually made containing cucumber, avocado, crab meat or imitation crab. Many variations of the roll persist, some California rolls use mango or banana instead of avocado. The roll is often sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds or roe, but again other variations of this exist.

The traditional Japanese roll that California rolls were based on used Bluefin tuna instead of avocado. Given the scarcity of Bluefin tuna in North America, the roll was adapted to use avocado, which has a similar fatty texture to Bluefin. Cucumbers were added to neutralize the overpowering aromas of avocado.

Today California rolls are one of the most iconic pieces of Japanese-American fusion cuisine, being cheap and widespread in Japanese restaurants in North America. Their massive arrival in the late 20th century gave birth to a whole new class of fusion food. They are a direct result of cultures in contact and continue to evolve with the fast growing restaurant scene in North America. It has inspired many other chefs to create their own fusion rolls that differ greatly from traditional Japanese fare.

Japanese Immigration to North America

Due to its proximity to the Pacific Rim sushi made its North American debut on the West Coast of the United States as a means to fill the need of the early immigrant settlers. During the Pacific War there was an abrupt halt to Japanese business operations, however the food industry bounced back and grew steadily once the war was over in 1945. Japanese cuisine in America began in Little Tokyo, which was founded by Shigeta Hamasuke in 1955. This is where he opened the first Japanese restaurant of the district. During WWII there was very little mention of Japanese cuisine but by the 1960’s articles and recipes on sushi began to emerge in lifestyle magazines. These recipes were nothing like the ones we are familiar with today, they suggested a different version of “sushi”. For example, cooked shrimp on rye bread. Kawafuku of Little Tokyo was the pioneer of all sushi restaurants in America. A man named Mr. Nakajima opened it in 1966. Kawafuku was designed to target the Japanese expatriates. These Japanese businessmen introduced their business colleagues to the taste of sushi, and this is what triggered its popularity. Sushi bars then began to pop up outside of the epicenter of resuarants immediately surrounding Little Tokyo, a migration spearheaded by a man named Mr. Kubo. Sushi then began to spread east. In 1972 there was a sushi bar opened in the elite Harvard Club of New York City. Its opening was covered on the front page of the New York Times. One of the critical moments in the rise of sushi as popular cuisine was marked by its appearance in West Coast supermarkets. Today sushi restaurants continue to thrive. They are a healthy, nutritious option that offers a fusion of exotic flavors, refined textures, and elegant presentation.

History of Sushi

The original Sushi, known as “Nare-Zushi” today, firstly originated from the Southeast Asia during the second century A.D. which slowly spreaded to south China before it was introduced to Japan later on around the 8th century where fish is a food staple. There was a need to keep the meat fresh without refrigeration so in order for this to happen, meat and fish were cured and wrapped in rice to preserve its freshness. It will then be left for months to ferment and when enough time has passed, they would discard the rice and eat the cured remains. The Japanese would ferment their cured-fish and rice sushi with Japanese rice wine or sake. The Japanese preferred to eat fish with rice known as “Namanare” which was a new dish in Japanese cuisine. It was partly raw fish wrapped in rice and consumed fresh. This was popular during the Muromachi period.

About ten centuries later, people started adding vinegar to their sushi to help in the fermentation process. This is done to shorten their waiting time for the sushi to be ready for consumption. During the 1820’s, chefs started using raw fish in their sushi which is known as the Edo-Style sushi. When Tokyo was still known as Edo, “Nigiri-Zushi” was introduced, which is made of oblong mound of rice with a slice of fish draped over it. This sushi was popular in Edo back then and was sold by mobile food stalls run by street vendors. After the “Great Kanto Earthquake” that hit in 1923, most of the “Nigiri-Zushi” chefs were displaced from Edo throughout the country and this has indirectly made sushi to become popular in Japan.

History of the California Roll

The first California Roll was established at the Tokyo Kaiken restaurant in the late 1960s (some sources believe it was in the 1970s) in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, California. The restaurant was owned by the Japanese Restaurant Corporation EIWA and was opened in 1963. The restaurant had seperate food stations for tempura, teppanyaki and sushi. Their typical customers were businessmen from Tokyo who had come to Los Angeles during Tokyo's post-war economic boom. It is often assumed that the California Roll was created for Californians, but that wasn't necessarily the case.

The original California Roll was comprised of a crab-avocado meat mixture, rice, scallions and a nori wrapper. Ingredients like cucumbers, mayonnaise and sesame seeds were added later. Avocado was not considered a traditional sushi component in the 1960s but when the Tokyo Kaiken chef Ichiro Mashita was seeking a substitute for the Bluefin Tuna used in Toro Negimaki (which is a roll made of Tuna Belly and Scallions) Avocado and crab fit the bill. Mashita found that the fattiness of the Avocado and the fishiness of the crab was a good substitute for the Bluefin Tuna, which was only available seasonally.

As the popularity of Tokya Kaiken increased, the Japanese clients began bringing their American friends for meals. The American's did not like the seaweed wrapper on the California rolls so Mashita began 'hiding' the seaweed by making inside-out rolls, known as Uramaki. Uramaki rolls have the seaweed wrapper on the inside and the rice on the outside. This practice is still extremely popular in North American sushi, however it isn't considered traditional sushi. In Japan chefs go to great lengths to perfect the seaweed (Nori) wrapper, it should add a crunchy outer shell to the soft insides. Placing the nori wrapper inside the roll causes it to get soggy which is a 'no-no' to traditional Japanese chefs.

California Roll Components

The California Roll is notorious for its endless variations—altered and adapted depending on region and restaurant. The California Roll is a classic example of “American Sushi”—a traditional Japanese recipe infused with a Western spin. The most basic form of the California Roll is comprised of avocado, crab meat (usually imitation crab), cucumber, and mayonnaise carefully placed together on a bed of of dried seaweed, and then wrapped in vinegared rice and garnished with sesame seeds. These components establish the foundation for all other sushi recipes—its ingredients often substituted and experimented with. Traditionally, sushi is considered an incredibly nutritious and satisfying meal. Not only is its presentation often appealing to the eye but, its combination raw fish, vegetables, and rice yield a meal that is high is very high in protein and heart-healthy fats, and a serving of gluten-free carbohydrates. The dried seaweed is especially rich with vitamins, minerals and anti-oxidants such as K, folate, and magnesium—preventing cell damage by fighting free radicals that may be circulating in one’s body . The cucumbers were added to neutralize the overpowering taste of Avocado, creating a balance of subtle flavour that is now extremely popular around the world. However, with the infusion of Western ingredients such as mayonnaise and “imitation’ fish, the California Roll’s nutritional benefits have regressed considerably. The substitutions of fresh product for ingredients that preserve longer have unfortunately made what was once a cultural delicacy, into a cheap and quick meal-to-go.

Adaptations of the California Roll

As mentioned, the traditional California Roll is composed over rice, nori (seaweed), cucumber, imitation crab, and avocado. However, over time there have been a multitude of changes made to the “traditional” California Roll. Some of these changes make the roll healthier – such as simply substituting brown for white rice, while others can have more of a negative effect – such as mixing the imitation crab with mayonnaise before adding it to the roll. Some changes are also made as a way for chefs to specialize the roll, or make it their signature. A common change to the California Roll is using real crab instead of imitation crab – however, this causes the price of the relatively cheap roll to increase. A basic California roll, made with imitation crab, can be found for as cheap $3 dollars while a California roll made with Alaskan King crab served at a fancy restaurant, such as New York’s Masa can cost approximately $30 dollars. The California roll has also inspired Chefs to use the flavour combination of the California roll in other types of food – such as the “California Roll” Salmon Burger, which is topped with both cucumber and avocado slices. Another adaptation to the California roll is serving it in wrap form; using the main ingredients of the California roll plus additional ingredients such as cream cheese and wasabi powder. Over time the California Roll has undergone changes that can influence the price of the roll, as well as the flavour combination and ingredients used in the California roll have inspired chefs to create new dishes.

Summary

The California Roll is a type of maki-zushi, a sushi roll which is made inside out. The California roll is usually made containing cucumber, avocado, crab meat or imitation crab. Many variations of the roll persist, some California rolls uses mango or banana instead of avocado. The roll is often sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds or roe, but again other variations of this exist. The traditional Japanese roll that California rolls were based on used Bluefin tuna instead of avocado. Given the scarcity of Bluefin tuna in North America, the roll was adapted to use avocado, which has a similar fatty texture to Bluefin. Cucumbers were added to neutralize the overpowering aromas of avocado. The original Sushi, known as “Nare-Zushi” today, originated in the Southeast Asia during the second century CE and slowly spread to south China, before being introduced to Japan in the 8th century. The first California Roll was established at the Tokyo Kaiken restaurant in the late 1960s (some sources believe it was in the 1970s) in Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, California. The restaurant was owned by the Japanese Restaurant Corporation EIWA and was opened in 1963. The restaurant had seperate food stations for tempura, teppanyaki and sushi. Their typical customers were businessmen from Tokyo who had come to Los Angeles during Tokyo's post-war economic boom. It is often assumed that the California Roll was created for Californians, but that wasn't necessarily the case. Today California rolls are one of the most iconic pieces of Japanese-American fusion cuisine, being cheap and widespread in Japanese restaurants in North America. Their massive arrival in the late 20th century gave birth to a whole new class of fusion food. They are a direct result of cultures in contact and continue to evolve with the fast growing restaurant scene in North America. It has inspired many other chefs to create their own fusion rolls that differ greatly from traditional Japanese fare.