Sushi Eating Etiquette: A Guide to How to Eat Sushi

When sampling sushi, many Americans do not know the basics of eating sushi or that there is even a sushi etiquette that should be followed. Much like you would not use your fingers in a restaurant to eat spaghetti, and most people don't use a fork to eat french fries, there is an accepted etiquette for eating sushi too.

If you are new to sushi eating, you can review two of my articles here on Associated Content to learn the basics of eating sushi: Beginner's Guide to Sampling Sushi and What is Sushi? Information About Sushi and Its Origins. These two articles will tell you a bit more about what sushi is and how it came to be what it is today. These articles will give you the basic understanding of sushi and help you discover what types of sushi are best to sample if you are new to sushi eating.

After you have read these two articles, you are now ready to venture out to your favorite Japanese or Chinese restaurant that serves sushi and get ready for your first sushi experience. It's been said that you'll either love sushi or hate it upon first try, and that there is very little in between.

Personally, I love sushi and have eaten it for years. I consider it a delicacy I love to treat myself to when I go out for a special evening. However, until I met with a master sushi chef a few months back, I didn't realize there was an etiquette to eating sushi and I hadn't been eating it the right way!

How to Eat Sushi Tip #1

Sushi is a finger food and not meant to be eaten with utensils or chop sticks. It is expected you use your right hand to eat sushi, and pick it up with your thumb and your forefinger to dip it and eat it.

How to Eat Sushi Tip #2

Pop the entire piece of sushi in your mouth. Sushi is meant to be a one bit 'fast food' treat in Japan. You are not supposed to take bites from sushi and then sit it back on the plate. This is considered unclean and insulting. In Japan, only samurai and chefs wield weapons such as knives, so it is not acceptable for you to cut your sushi into pieces. If a piece of sushi is too large to put in your mouth in one bite, it is acceptable to ask the sushi chef to cut the pieces for you.

How to Eat Sushi Tip #3

Sushi should be as fresh as possible and should be eaten immediately upon being served. Additionally, one should not eat other things while eating their sushi. A true sushi chef may become quite upset if you leave the fresh sushi he has prepared sitting uneaten while you finish your soup or other dishes.

How to Eat Sushi Tip #4

There are typical condiments that are served with sushi, the most common being soy sauce and wasabi. Wasabi is a mustard like, light green sauce that many say has no actual flavor except HOT HOT HOT! The truth is, wasabi by itself doesn't have much flavor, but when a small amount is added to a piece of sushi, the wasabi can help bring out the flavor the dish while minimizing the 'fishiness' of sushi made with fresh or raw fish.

Unfortunately, the most common beginner's sushi eating mistake is mixing soy sauce and wasabi on the same piece of sushi. This is a no-no! Soy sauce breaks down wasabi and if you mix them on a plate, the wasabi becomes lumpy. The two provide very different tastes that are not meant to be combined.

Many sushi eating experts agree it's best to alternate a piece of sushi dipped in soy sauce with a piece spread with a small amount of wasabi. Believe it or not, the exact same type of sushi will taste entirely different when it is dipped in soy sauce versus spread with wasabi.

How to Eat Sushi Tip #5

Most restaurants that serve sushi will serve thin slices of pickled ginger with the sushi. I've seen many Americans actually place the ginger on the sushi roll and eat it with the sushi. This is not proper! The pickled ginger has a pungent, strong flavor and is actually meant to cleanse the palate when you change from one type of sushi to another or after you have eaten sushi and prior to eating another dish.

Simply pick up with your chopsticks a small piece of ginger and roll it around your tongue and then bite down on it lightly to release the juice. You can then swallow the piece of ginger and you are ready to move on to the next course or piece of sushi. Additionally, fish can sometimes upset a person's stomach, especially raw or cured fish, and the ginger helps prevent this queasy feeling some people get when eating fish.

How to Eat Sushi Tip #6

When eating a fish-y sushi, the fish taste can often overwhelm the other flavors of the rice and seaweed or kelp, vegetables, or other ingredients included in the sushi roll. Therefore, soy sauce and wasabi are good ways to diminish the fish flavor, but how you actually put the sushi in your mouth can help with flavor.

If you do not like the stronger fish taste of sushi, your best bet is to dip the fish side of the sushi (if you have fish topped sushi and not a roll type sushi) into the soy sauce, but then flip the sushi over so that when you place it in your mouth, the fish piece hits the top of your mouth and the rice is what first touches the tongue. You should do the opposite if you do like the fish taste better than the rice.

When eating sushi with wasabi, it is recommended the wasabi side of the sushi be on top, toward the roof of your mouth, and not directly touch your tongue. And lastly, the soy sauce is to flavor the fish, not the rice, so you should dip the fish into the soy sauce. Soy sauce will break down the rice. However, wasabi is a better choice for the rice side of sushi or using on rolled sushi.

How to Eat Sushi Tip #7

Clean your plate completely, leaving not even one grain of rice. To leave food on your plate is an insult to a Japanese chef. Because of this, you should not pour more soy sauce than necessary. It's more acceptable to pour soy sauce more than once than it is to leave it left over on your plate or dish.

How to Eat Sushi Tip #8

Sometimes sushi is served as a communal dish, that is, on a large plate that everyone at the table will share. It is acceptable to pick the sushi up with your chopsticks from a communal plate, however, it is still preferred you use your fingers to eat sushi. A good sushi chef will place the sushi pieces far enough apart to allow you to pick them up with your fingers.

If you are picking up a piece of sushi for someone else, it is acceptable to use the chopsticks to pick the piece of sushi up and place it on their plate. However, you should never exchange sushi from one set of chopsticks to another. Not only does this risk dropping the sushi, which would be very insulting to the chef, but it also infringes upon a Japanese funeral ritual that would be very improper to do at a restaurant.

Along the same lines, do not ever place your chopsticks standing upright in your food, as this is another funeral ritual, and it is impolite to play with your chopsticks when you are not eating.

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It might sound as though there are a lot of rules for eating sushi, and granted, it's not quite the same as eating french fries in an American restaurant. It's important to note that in most countries besides America, eating is an event as much as it is a meal and meals and rituals about eating are steeped in history and meaning. Eating sushi is not really that difficult once you know the basics and can follow proper sushi eating etiquette.

In fact, studies have shown that people who make an event out of eating meals, eating with friends and family, sharing special rituals and observations while eating, actually consume less calories, eat healthier foods, have a better respect for eating in generally, and will, on average, be healthier and thinner than those who eat alone and just eat for the sake of eating only.

Learning sushi eating etiquette can also improve the taste and experience of eating sushi for those who are a bit worried about eating sushi. Sushi eating can be fun, exciting, and bring a whole new world of flavor and experience to your dining experience.

Enjoy!