The Story of Sushi: An Unlikely Saga of Raw Fish and Rice

This is an entertaining and educational book -- I could have done without all the travails of Kate, the "main character," and the other aspiring sushi chefs, but Corson included a class of students at a California sushi chef school in his narrative, telling us about sushi preparation and the sushi business through them. To me, more interesting was the history of sushi (which, naturally, was originally something very different than what you buy at the supermarket today and which you'd probably consider disgusting), as well as lots of chemistry for food science geeks (you learn all about exactly what chemicals make seafood so delicious, as well as all the ways it can go bad). Learn which fish sushi chefs consider to be true delicacies, and which are the crappy fish Japanese used to consider unworthy of sushi, but which Americans love.

Definitely made me want to go out and eat some sushi.

I thought this was a fun and interesting book. I like sushi, and now feel better informed about many aspects of sushi and sushi culture. Things like; though sushi is presently viewed as kind of snobby, it originally had more in common with a hotdog street cart, and was fairly practical. While it is nonfiction, Trevor Corson does interweave the facts with a story about some up and coming sushi chefs (something some reviewers noted as tedious). While all in all the narration was pretty good, I would have to nominate Brian Nishii for the worst Australian accent ever… ever.

I found this book highly entertaining. It covered a large range of topics related to sushi, from the evolution of fish to how sushi bar became popular in 1960s California. The story that creates the structure of the book, following students at a sushi academy, is useful when it is used to be informative - when the students run into problems, and these problems are used to explained things further. The educational passages are the best bits. Whenever the story tries to hit an emotional note, it fails. However, this is not much of the book. I am very glad I listened to this book.

I'll start with the positive: there are moments in this that are genuinely interesting. These deal with the evolution of sushi, and this happens early on in the book, and it is, sadly, smattered, in between bouts of uninteresting prose that's written to try to make sushi matter more than it really does. The narrator was subpar, slightly nasal, and horrible at accents. And, what the narrator's voice does mostly is to really bring to the front how poor the writing is. There's a lack of adequate detail where it matters, and extraneous information that really has nothing to do with anything (do we really need to know that a "hot" sushi chef was asked out on a date by the son of basketball star Bill Walton?) germane. The author needs to focus, and instead he's all over the place. My advice: save your credit, and use it with another Audible selection more worthy of your time.

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.

i loved this book interesting how author talk about the history of sushi and way it is written, i am listen for more. enjoy

A great blend of knowledge and entertainment. I enjoyed learning the origin and history of sushi. It is too easy to take raw fish and rice at face value. I was amazed at its deep impact on the food culture beyond the local trendy sushi bar. I equally enjoyed the characters in the book. The students of the Sushi Academy and their instructors add color and life to an informative book. Each listen had me wondering what's next?

While Kate is the central character, whom you can't help rooting for, Sushi instructor, Zoran, is the one that kept me reading and wanting more. He is a sushi chef that assists in the training of the students attending the Sushi Academy. He is colorful, insightful and surprisingly caring. He trains with concern for his art form and delights in challenging his students with gross tasks like gutting fish and cleaning octopi. The book is filled with many colorful characters that become the heart and soul of the book. While the history and technique of making sushi serves as the brains of the work.

My favorite scene in the book is when Kate is finally given the opportunity to serve the public. Struggling to perfect the art of making sushi, she has many confrontations with her instructors. She often finds herself at the bottom of the class, but when given the opportunity to work the sushi bar she shines by using her personality. She fully captures the culture of sushi by creating an experience for her customers. It was a great, "You go girl!" part of the story.

It is quite exceptional for me to complete a book in one sitting. I found that the interest level is there for those desiring completion, but the book is also crafted to easily be revisited in several sittings. I did find myself always looking forward to hitting play and seeing what new challenge Zoran had for Kate and his other students.

If you are a foodie or love sushi this book is a must. I would even recommend this book to chemistry or biology majors. Much of the book deals with the science of sushi. Don't worry if science isn't your thing. There is plenty of entertainment. While the characters in the book are "real people" they are often in comical or tense situations. After completing The Story of Sushi, I looked forward to my first sushi visit after the book knowing that I would be more educated about the delicious meal I was about to eat. I was even able to impress my guests with my newly acquired knowledge of the sushi world.

I was amazed that so much could be said about Sushi and its history. This is a great book and they were just about giving it away.

I fell in love with this book. I'm huge fan of sushi and anything Japanese. The book is a good balance of story telling and education. The author goes in depth about the biological make up of the fish, getting into scientific detail that was a little beyond me at times. The author balanced out the book with personal stories and experiences of different Sushi chefs which kept the book personal. I loved how a lot of the history and stories tied back to Los Angeles and LIttle Tokyo,as I'm an Angeleno. Overall great book, kept you interested from start to finish and gives you some great take aways on Sushi etiquette

Great at narrating and using his voice to simulate different accents or personalities. Was also great at pronouncing all the Japanese words. Felt very authentic to the spirit of the book.

the understanding and level of detail the Japanese have put into the understanding of taste and health.

The New Zealander. I like his driving ways.

No

the intricate taste of sushi

You will enjoy the book. you learn about sushi and that what we generally have in america is not traditional Japanese sushi