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it ended up in supermarkets and take-away corners next to pizza, burrito,
bagel and other hallmarks of contemporary American food culture. What
happened? Theodore Bestor explains:
Three things happened.
One is that the economics of sushi changed. With decreasing
demand from connoisseurs for authentic sushi made by
skilled Japanese chefs, restaurants found they could lower their
costs by hiring non-Japanese chefs. Throughout the 1990s,
restaurants serving sushi have relied increasingly on Chinese,
Korean, Vietnamese, Burmese, or Mexican staff – in fast-food
sushi, consumers still place confidence on chefs with black hair,
but seemingly do not care much beyond that. And for the really
simple stuff, there are always sushi robots.
At the same time, supermarket chains began to experiment
with sales of simple types of sushi, hoping to lure customers
with a bit of exotic food that could be easily tasted and tested
without any special knowledge, and heavily promoted for its
healthiness.
National franchise chains supply supermarkets with raw
materials, training, and costumes for employees, many of
whom are part-time workers, often Asian students from local
universities.
And sushi became an item on the internet. Japan-
Grocery.com is only one of half a dozen dot-com businesses
that sell basic sushi supplies over the internet, providing people
with simple kits for making sushi at home. . . .
An additional factor propelling the second wave was that
the innovative potential of sushi was unleashed. Following the
path created by the popularity of such things as ‘California
Roll,’ inexpensive sushi bars catering to young people began to
experiment wildly with new combinations, reflecting a general
popularity of fusion cuisine. 8
The presence of a Japanese community in California was an important
factor in the birth of the Japanese food trend. The Japanese community
was indispensable in the initial transfer of skills and knowledge of sushi
making, before the army of chef-entrepreneurs, such as Matsuhisa
Nobuyuki – the most well-known and internationally celebrated Japanese
chef today – began to arrive from Japan during the late 1970s and ’80s.
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