What not to do at a sushi restaurant

Ok, being an asian and a sushi snob, I've noticed a trend in sushi bars around Berlin (Ok I lie...it's only at Ishin where I go all the time due to its close proximity from home).

I hate to make racial stereotypes, but I always see non-asians grab a whole bunch of ginger, then drench it in soy sauce, then munch on it till their order comes out.
what the...!?

First of all, you are supposed to eat the ginger between the different types of sushi to cleanse your palate. Ok ok, if you developed a liking for it, you can eat it just for its taste; but why the hell are you drenching it in soy sauce???
To a sushi chef watching you, that is the equivalent of someone ordering a quality steak at Morton's and then drenching it with Ketchup, no...make that mustard. what the heck?
It's as if some clueless european did this in the first sushi bar that opened up in Europe, and all the other people copied him thinking he knew what the heck he was doing. Jeez.

Also, don't drench the sushi in soy sauce. I see so many people do this...the rice gets so drenched that it just falls apart...a big no no...
Technically, you're supposed to dip the FISH in the soy sauce, and not the rice; but I understand that might be a challenge with chopticks for some people. Just don't over do it.

and lastly, california roll is not sushi. don't lie to yourself.

If they like the taste of it, why not?

Being an Asian and a sushi snob, you'll know that you're supposed to eat sushi with your fingers, not with chopsticks.

I had to browbeat a friend last week, as... gasp, she took a knife and fork and cut the sushi up to eat it. That is as bad as seeing a German take a knife and fork to Nachos!

Whatever you do, just don't ask to order a cheeseburger with french fries.

eat the food - it's disgusting!

First of all, A+ to Kay for the topic title edit. Nice.

As for the OP... in my experience, admonishing people on the 'correct' way to enjoy their food doesn't make you appear more worldly and cultured, it just makes you look like a jerk. I once interrupted some people at my local Wirtshaus who were picking up their unskinned weisswurt with their fingers, dunking it into the senf, and chomping on it -- skin and all. Thinking they were foreigners in need of my expert advice (and because the sight of it turned my stomach) I leaned over and said importantly, 'You really shouldn't eat the skins, they're not good for you.' To which one of the diners replied, 'I'm German and have been eating it this way for twenty years, and nothing bad has happened to me yet.' I shut my mouth and didn't bother them again.

I still find it really gross that anybody would voluntarily eat the skin of the weisswurst, and I am pretty damn sure this isn't the standard Bavarian way, but what business is it of mine to interfere in the dining experience of someone else?

Bottom line: I reckon you'd enjoy your sushi a lot more if you weren't paying so much attention to what the diners around you are doing.

I think table manners are far more important than how someone eats their sushi. Now I have seen Koreans wiping their mouth with the side of their hand (hello? whatever happened to good old napkins and towels?) and then wiping that on their pants and then I have seen Koreans with class table manners. Which one are you?

Quite. Not my taste at all. I know many US colleagues (esp in CA) are fans. So there was I (January 2002) just arrived in hotel in Tokyo to find that one said colleague was in same hotel. Next day after I gave my workshop (a story in itself) one of the Japanese guys (the only one not wearing a suit) said "you and Scott-San are to come with our account team for T... to restaurant". Damn me if it wasn't a Sushi thing. Probably a very good one - at least colleague Scott thought so. At least they did cook a few things.
A couple of days later (Saturday afternoon) I was collected at hotel by elderly Japanese professor who had been part of the research team in Hamburg (DESY) when I first came out here. A nice guy who speaks PERFECT Oxford English... SO he asks me where I have been the last few days so me makes the mistake of saying "a sushi restaurant" and promptly was in grave danger of meeting similar fate again...

Tokyo: the only place I have voluntarily eaten at McDonalds...

Yes I am aware of that, but you will not see many people do that these days, mostly for sanitary reasons. I know none of my sushi loving japanese buddies do. Too much hassle.


Well, the difference is, I would never actually correct them on the spot. That would be just rude. I'm hoping that people who munch on soy sauce drenched ginger (just because they think it's the way to do it) reads this and corrects themselves. If not, oh well. Also, I would not presume to correct someone that looked Japanese on how to eat their sushi. I was pretty sure these people were not familiar with the traditions.


napkins? what's that?

Me too, because this would be a enormous contribution toward world peace.

Again, who are you to tell people to 'correct themselves'? Just because you're Asian doesn't give you the right to tell other people how to eat their food. Sorry to break it to you, but sushi is one of those things that is just not likely to be terribly authentic in either the presentation or the consumption outside of Asia, so accept it and move on. You're in your local sushi shop in Berlin, it ain't Nobu.

And actually, the difference is that I learned not to foist my opinions about how food should be enjoyed onto other people. You have not. As for rude, you're being quite rude in posting a contemptuous tirade on the Internet directed at 'non-Asians'. I bet everyone's dying to invite you to their next dinner party so you can sanctimoniously inform them of the proper way to hold a fork and which type of wine goes with which kind of fish.

Georgiagirl, get over yourself. You gave some random German ridiculous unsolicited advice about sausage casings to feel superior for a few moments and now you're the self-rightous expert on where to draw the line on being annoyed by peoples' table manners? Give me a break. You probably dunk your ginger, don't you.

I'd go to rgrpark's house for a party anytime. The food's probably really good.

Since she's so concerned about this, what I recommend is she just make some copies of the below links and pass them around her favorite sushi bars in Berlin. Then stand in the middle of the restaurant dressed in traditional Japanese garb and review slowly step by step all the salient nuances about the proper way to eat sushi. The is an unfilled niche in our society and someone have to make this their personal mission in life, why not her as she seems quite interested .

http://www.sushifaq.com/

http://www.sushifaq.com/howtoeatsushi-etiquette.htm

The reason I shared that story was to make the point that yes, I was being a jerk. And so is our sushi expert. At least I admit to my poor judgment.

Enjoy your sushi however you please and don't look down your nose at people who choose to do it differently. Not quite sure why that's such a difficult point to grasp.

Only the English know how to really eat sushi: http://www.videojug.com/film/how-to-eat-sushi

I like this comment on the sushi video link on post #20. "I can't believe a country of such clever people can be so damn fussy over food manners".

1) I love sushi
2) I hate the ginger
3) I love a little soy sauce with my wasabi
4) I love a little sushi with my wasabi

Sue me.

My sushi-loving Japanese buddies wash their hands before eating.

Alright folks,

It seems like I offended a lot of you people with my post. I'd like to say that by posting this, it was not my intent to come across as condescending even though I may have done exactly that. For that I apologize.

In regards to drenching ginger in soy sauce, go a head and do it if you want. I was just saying that perhaps a lot of people in Germany do this not because they like it, but because it is what they believe is the proper way to eat it. Now I would think that ginger/soy sauce soup would be way too salty and strong, but hey if you like it, that's fine with me. I just don't want more people observing other people doing this and just assuming that it is the way to go about eating ginger.

don't apologize, heck they had nothing better to do on a sunday night than bitch at you! Take that as a compliment!
Who are the people that need to get a life?

Dunking ginger in soya sauce? Never done it but might have to try now that you mention it. Sounds like a tasty way to pass the time until the sushi comes.

Always preferred eating my sushi to be somewhat more private.

Before anyone beats me up for the clearly crass and sexist comment above, it just had to be brought down to my level somewhere.

Actually, ginger is good WITH many dishes at a running sushi joint. Try it, you'll like it.

This whole cultural "locals know best" deal reminds me of Italians telling me I can't slice my pasta. Outta ma face, Luigi! If I roll it up on a fork, then it's too much pasta and too little sauce.

But I digress...

if you can't slice your pasta, how are you supposed to eat lasagna???

Italians would never dream of rolling pasta onto forks with the aid of a spoon. So what? Live and let live.

One bit of trivia good to know with regards to eating Japanese food is that fish is usually served at the beginning of the meal, even if it's often considered the highlight of an outing to Westeners, and that drowning the fish in wasabi and soya sauce can give the chef the impression that you think that the fish is not good enough to be eaten on its own, or at least lightly seasoned. Be careful, you may hurt his feelings!


Interesting OT. I perform an incision length-wise through the center of the weisswurst and scrape the sausage out of its skin before eating it. I think that true experts are able to simply suck the sausage out of its skin - unfortunately I have only ever had the chance to observe men doing this.

Yeah, the sucking method is known as 'Zuzeln', but after nearly three years of living in Munich I've never seen it done either. The most common way seems to be the method you describe, and that's what I do as well. Sometimes in desperation I have had to use my fingers to help pull the skin away from the sausage, but that of course is rude and it makes your fingers sticky. I also really hate the look of the discarded casing, so I try to hide it somehow so that I don't have to look at it lying there all limp and sticky like a used condom.

Rgrpark, thanks for your clarification. I think the problem here was not what you were saying, but how you were saying it. I for one actually think polite table manners are very important, and I'm interested in how different cultures eat their native foods. And I certainly never want to make an ass of myself in public or offend anyone, so if somebody can kindly point me in the right direction I'm always grateful. I'm not guilty of the ginger faux pas though, since I don't really like the taste of ginger.

Georgiagirl in public admittance of failure to pass basic yoga course.

Check out YouTube for the funny video 'A Japanese Tradition: Sushi' to learn the proper way to eat it.

"Gari... no one knows what it is."
"Geta... this is why Japanese people's feet smell of vinegar."

No need to apologise. Thats how you feel about it.

But basically anybody can eat anything in any way they like with whatever sauce they like. And they can do it right in front of some snobby chef too!

If someone has developed a strange and complicated way to eat something, don't be surprised or offended when someone doesn't do the same thing.
Me? I don't bother with sushi. It all seems to complicated and pointless. And I'm not upset when I see people eating something like that.

But thanks for the tips on how some may enjoy sushi better.

As a chef/cook, I laughed at the fuckers that ordered the most expensive steak on the menu and then proceeded to drown it in ketchup. Every single one of them weighed in at about 300lbs too. Fat, stupid and no taste, all I could do was laugh.

Totally agree with you. In the end they are paying for it.


I'll probably hear you soon saying that everybody should use chopsticks at an Asian restaurant.

So why's everybody laying into rgrpark? If I'd hang around some country where people dip their Bretzn into the Süße Senf and not their Weißwurscht, I'd probably point out that they're doing something wrong as well. Didn't know that the soya sauce thing was a big deal but hey - you live and learn.

Ain't it amazing how people who are so anal about their curry and sandwiches get all liberal when it comes to foreign food?

But generally not until the next day.

I thought that too. Apparently Germans may not eat their food as they please, but expats can. How many topics have there been about how Germans do this and that wrong. I suppose people only like topics like this as long as they are not the target.

I personally do not eat sushi, so I couldn't care less how it is supposed to be eaten or not.

I think it is a big mistake eating Sushi in Germany (full stop) unless it is prepared by a caucher Japanese chef.

I prefer sashimi, I cannot be bothered with all that rice

Usually I mix the soy sauce and with the wasabi and dip the fish in that, And of course you need to be drinking the saki to wash it all down

I don't bother with the ginger thing.

No I don't. I think my chef is better than your "caucher Japanese chef".

I'll eat my food the way I damn like thank you

As for sushi, its uncooked stuff, some of which has been swimming in the sea and may have, at some point, been within floating distance of a sewer outlet

Isn't that the thrill of eating sushi, though?

I'm a Japanese, and I see where the OP comes from, but at the same time, perhaps the Japanese way of eating pickled gingers isn't the one and only way. Some Italians discovered noodles in China, and started their own noodle dishes, as known as PASTA. they don't serve the noodles in a bowl full of soup, but rather they put some nice tomato sauce, as well as all sorts of sauces / toppings. I'd say the Italians did a pretty good job, I can certainly appreciate the imagination and skills of the Italian culinary geniuses, kind of reminds me of the chefs that appear on Iron Chef. who knows, one day the Germans might come up with their own dishes with ginger, it could turn out pretty good as well.