In another book, a writer is consumed with an economic analysis of the craze
Trevor Corson's "The Zen of Fish" is one of two books this season offering an in-depth look at sushi. The other is "The Sushi Economy: Globalization and the Making of a Modern Delicacy" by Sasha Issenberg, who takes a wide-angle-lens view of the craze.
In sections that read almost as if they were each separate books, Issenberg, a magazine writer who lives in Philadelphia, explores how tuna became the prized sushi ingredient, the rise of air shipping, and how a neighborhood snack became a worldwide obsession. It all started, Issenberg says by phone from Austin, Texas, where he is on book tour, when he looked down at a sushi platter. "I realized I knew the Japanese names for everything on my plate, but I didn't know a single thing about the fish I was eating."
Issenberg, 27, who has written for the online magazine Slate, Philadelphia magazine , and Washington Monthly, began to work on a story. Since restaurants list sources for everything from artisanal cheeses to salad greens, he reasoned, his "modest journalistic mission about where sushi came from" would strike a chord with readers. As he researched and reported, he found that sushi, and its most prized component, tuna, was a "perfect example of global trade."
"The Sushi Economy " weaves in the stories of Canadians who began to see the future in tuna in the 1970s, and a Madrid consultant who tracks tuna piracy. But t his is essentially a business story seen through food. The future, Issenberg predicts, is in China, where a centuries-old dislike of raw fish is being overturned and a rising middle class is seeking the cultural sophistication that eating sushi conveys. He says there may be 50 million new Chinese sushi eaters in the coming years.
As to his own dining: "My personal consumption of sushi is way down, but professional consumption is high." His research altered his views of "sushi purity. We have this idea that we need to respect Japanese [traditions]," but sushi actually started as a roadside snack, making the supermarket variety as valid as $350 omakase at Masa in New York, he says. "I feel much more confident now about eating a California roll." -- ALISON ARNETT
