The Story of Sushi

An Unlikely Saga of Raw Fish and Rice

By: Trevor Corson

Narrated by: Brian Nishii

Length: 10 hrs and 6 mins

Publisher's summary

Everything you never knew about sushi: its surprising origins, the colorful lives of its chefs, and the bizarre behavior of the creatures that compose it. Trevor Corson takes us behind the scenes at America's first sushi-chef training academy, as eager novices strive to master the elusive art of cooking without cooking. He delves into the biology and natural history of the edible creatures of the sea, and tells the fascinating story of an Indo-Chinese meal reinvented in 19th-century Tokyo as a cheap fast food. He reveals the pioneers who brought sushi to the United States and explores how this unlikely meal is exploding into the American heartland just as the long-term future of sushi may be unraveling.

The Story of Sushi is at once a compelling tale of human determination and a delectable smorgasbord of surprising food science, intrepid reporting, and provocative cultural history.

©2007 Trevor Corson (P)2010 Audible, Inc.

Critic reviews

"The combination of culinary insights and personal drama makes for one of the more compelling food-themed books in recent years." ( Publishers Weekly)

more than just sushi!

Quite an interesting read/hear about sushi for a non-seafood eater like myself! Love all the educational facts I get out from the book Love how the narrator split into different accent for each characters. I think I might just consider trying out real sushi!

fast pace, very informative

a book for any cook, and definitely for those who have ever eaten sushi. I appreciated the history and the careful descriptions about ingredients woven into an entertaining story about modern day american sushi making.

Great information on sushi, meh on style

The information about sushi was interesting and highly informative. i did not care for the narrative style. The slice of life that goes no where, with characters i didnt really care about was not for me.

Fun mix of history with fictional characters and story

The history of Sushi is woven nicely throughout the book. The fictional story isn’t the greatest, but it holds together and carries the listener between the interesting sushi information.
I enjoyed as a light listen.

Very informative and entertaining to read

This book is full of information on all things sushi: cultural, ecological, biology of various fish, gastronomical, business, and more. I am from Japan but did not know about 80% of the information presented in this book. The book is also entertaining as it follows stories of the classmates who attended the California Sushi Academy during one semester.

Some of the reviews of this book gave me the impression that this part (the events that happened during the semester and the "characters" who appear) is fictional, but that is not the case. While reading this book, I also thought that level of details (e.g., what each character said) and the way the story was written are such that this had to be fictionalized/dramatized - this bothered me a little bit. So, after a half way through the book, I searched and found the author's web page, and you get to see the photos of these students and people who appeared in the book and updates of how they are doing since the book was written. So much detail of the events in the class are depicted in the book (as if they are a fiction) because the author actually attended the class and took detailed notes and interviewed these people. When you read (listen to) the book, it would help, at the outset, that you know these students are real people, because otherwise the book may sound like a mixture of facts and fictions.

The narrator's pronunciations of the Japanese words are accurate, and as a result, they may sound too "foreign", but this should not bother you because all these terms are not meant to be memorized or remembered - even Japanese people in Japan do not use many of these technical terms associated with sushi. They just reflect the depth of the knowledge that the author acquired during his research.

What was most fascinating to me overall about this book is that it is an illustration of how the food and its culture get transformed as they travel through different cultures and times. There is no such thing as a "pure" culture. It also made me wonder what "sushi" would be like 50 years from now, when, as some researchers predict, there will be no wild fish in the ocean.

Something Smells Fishy

Being a big fan of sushi, I found the most of the information in this audiobook very interesting and I loved hearing about the history of Sushi including rice, ginger, vinegar and my personal favorite, the California Roll. My only regret is that many of the names of the people and foods are hard to pronounce and thus that made the information for me very hard to remember. It’s also hard to believe that the writer spent so much time talking about Melanie Griffith’s sister.

Characters, history, and organic chemistry.

Would you try another book from Trevor Corson and/or Brian Nishii?

I would be interested in seeing what other titles Trevor Corson has written.

How would you have changed the story to make it more enjoyable?

I found the parts of the story about the students of the sushi academy sort of corny and silly but I was more interested in the historical components of the story.

Could you see The Story of Sushi being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

I doubt this story would translate well to a movie or TV series unless perhaps it were a reality tv show where prospective sushi chefs are put in a competitive environment.

Any additional comments?

All in all, I enjoyed this book, and learned a lot about one of my favorite types of food that I never knoew.

So interesting in every way

Goes in depth in all areas necessary and entertains readers by covering many different areas of sushi and Japanese cuisine.

Love it!!!

Tons of knowledge. I learned alot from this book. Very good narrator too. He made me hungry and go for sushi every time he talk about it. Now I can safely eat sushi at japan without offending the chef

I gained a wealth of knowledge

I gained a wealth of knowledge , and can't wait to step up to the Sushi bar.