Unhelpful

I was contemplating a sushi menu earlier today. I realize that sushi does not consist exclusively of dishes that include raw fish, but odds are if that you eat a few different varieties, most likely the majority will include raw fish.

Enter the “California roll”. I’m convinced that this is some sort of in-joke among “authentic” sushi chefs; it’s a jibe at Americans (probably well deserved), but most don’t get it.

The California roll consists mostly of things that Americans are comfortable with - rice, crab meat and cucumber. Of course there’s the whole seaweed wrapper thing, but that’s pretty low on the “gross” scale, even for sheltered mid-western suburban boys.

The California roll is for people who want to say they like sushi, but can’t stomach the idea of eating a raw piece of tuna or flounder.

Hypocrisy alert: Though I savor jellyfish salad (thx Fallo), I can’t even bear to comprehend the notion of eating a sea urchin.