The culinary phenomenon of sushi begin in Japan, but rather as an ancient fish preservation method in Southeast Asia along the Mekong River. It evolved over a thousand years from a pungent, fermented survival food into the fresh, fast-paced delicacy we recognize today.
The oldest form of sushi was as a method used in 2nd – 8th Century in Japan to preserve freshwater fish by packing it with salted, fermenting rice. The rice produced lactic acid to keep the fish from rotting. Crucially, the fermented rice was discarded because it turned mushy and foul-smelling—only the preserved fish was consumed.This is named Narezushi sushi and long history about this sushi I received from sources at the exhibition in Japanease Foundation this week.
Long before reaching Japan, the technique emerged in Southeast Asia—specifically along the Mekong River basin (modern-day Laos, Thailand, Cambodia) and Myanmar. Indigenous groups devised a way to scale, gut, salt, and pack freshwater river fish into barrels with cooked rice.
As the mixture sat, natural lactic acid bacteria consumed the rice carbohydrates. The resulting lactic acid acted as a heavy chemical shield, preventing standard decomposition bacteria from rotting the meat.
By the 2nd to 4th century CE, the method spread into southern China, where it reached peak popularity during the Song Dynasty. It migrated to Western Japan around the Yayoi Period and in appearance, it bore no resemblance whatsoever to our concept of sushi as such. It was the great-grandfather of our modern method of preparing sushi.The exhibition featured models of the earliest sushi and screened a film about its history.
Modern sushi is all about fresh, delicate seafood and eating the vinegared rice. Original narezushi was the complete opposite.Unlike the light taste of a modern roll, narezushi is notoriously pungent and incredibly sour. Scientifically, its odor profile has been measured as one of the most intense food smells in the world (often compared to an intensely sharp, aged blue cheese).
While modern nigiri dominates global cuisine, you can still eat authentic, ancient-style narezushi in a few historic pockets of Japan.
This technology has now been improved and is used in some dishes with certain types of fish. For example, for mackerel-boasting an 800-year history, mackerel is packed with rice and wrapped tightly in leaves. Because it’s only fermented for a few days, the rice is intentionally eaten alongside the fish.
For wild carp-aged up to 2–3 years. The fish bones completely soften, and the local delicacy is thinly sliced—often prized for its orange, cheese-like roe—and paired with sake.
As the practice spread to Japan, the Japanese fundamentally transformed it. Because rice was incredibly precious, people shortened the fermentation time to a month or two. This left the fish partially raw and the rice tangy but edible, creating the first version where both the fish and the rice were eaten together.
That is how they came into being Hamanare and Nama-narezushi in 14th – 15th Century in Japan.
With the widespread commercial production of rice vinegar, chefs discovered they could entirely bypass the lengthy fermentation process. By mixing vinegar directly into fresh rice, they could instantly mimic the sour taste of fermented sushi, inventing “fast sushi” and that is how they came into being Hayazushi (17th – 18th Century).
Later,in around 1820-s,a creative street-food peddler named Hanaya Yohei revolutionized the dish in the bustling city of Edo (modern-day Tokyo). To feed busy workers quickly, he began shaping small oblongs of seasoned rice by hand and topping them with fresh, raw slices of local fish caught straight from Tokyo Bay. This became the literal blueprint for modern sushi and for today in Tokyo we are have street Sushi Avenue,along which samurai transported prepared sushi.Nigiri sushi remains the most popular sushi in Japan to this day.
The history of using tuna in sushi making is interesting.Today, bluefin tuna (maguro) is the undisputed king of the sushi world, but it was historically despised in Japan. For centuries, tuna was considered an unlucky, low-class “garbage fish” (gezakana).
In ancient Japan, aristocratic diners strictly avoided tuna for three reasons: the old Japanese word for tuna was shibi. This was homophonous with the phrase shibi meaning “day of the dead,” making it highly taboo and bad luck to serve; tuna is a warm-blooded, highly metallic migratory fish and without refrigeration, its dark red meat oxidized and turned a repulsive, foul-smelling brown almost immediately after being caught; and when peasants had no choice but to eat it, they would sometimes bury the meat in the ground for four days to let it ferment, just to mask the bloody taste.
The true golden age of tuna didn’t arrive until after World War II, fueled by two massive shifts.
During the post-WWII American occupation, the Japanese diet rapidly shifted toward Westernized preferences for higher fat contents, beef, and dairy. Suddenly, the rich, buttery texture of toro went from greasy to luxurious.
By the 1960s and 70s, the invention of specialized electric flash-freezers (-60°C) and commercial air freight allowed global airlines like Japan Airlines (JAL) to transport perfectly preserved fresh bluefin from places like Atlantic Canada directly to Tokyo’s markets overnight.
Today the cuisine has evolved into a massive $18.28 billion global industry that blends strict Japanese tradition with high-tech automation and modern lifestyle values (The Businesse Research Canada).
Ironically, the ancient history of narezushi has come full circle. Some avant-garde chefs are now experimenting with using traditional Japanese koji (fermentation starter) to add intense, aged umami depth to contemporary seafood and fatty tuna (toro) dishes.
Here are the top local sushi spots right here in Etobicoke, grouped by style and budget:
IKKOI SUSHI&RAMEN at 5084 Dundas St.W.,(20-30 $ per dish),KIBO SUSHI at 4925 Dundas St.,W.,(20-30 $),SUSHI RUN at 3351 BLOOR ST.,W.,and very popular ,,all you can eat” K&B SUSHI at 1184 The Queensway.
Photo and video made by Helen Polishuk&Astra Production 2026.
