Your biggest problem with sushi is the rice.
Sashimi is easy. It’s raw fish. No problem. Confirm which fish it is and enjoy.
All soy sauce is fine and any wasabi is good.
everything else has rice.
The problem with rice is Bishul Akum, the cooking of a non-Jew.
If there’s a Jew that owns the place or a Jew in the kitchen that cooks the rice or can turn on the fire, you’re fine.
Otherwise, stick to raw fish and vegetables.
Seaweed is fine.
If someone has any better options, I’d love to hear.
Enjoy!
Moshe Weiss
on March 1, 2020 at 4:24 pm
How can one confirm which fish it is? They remove the skin hours prior when they are preparing the fish for the sashimi.
Excellent point. I should have addressed that.
So, your simple solution is to stick to salmon and tuna, which are difficult to fake and not worth playing with.
Technically, the white fishes can be replaced with a fish that isn’t kosher. But it’s not that simple.
If you eat sushi regularly, you can tell the difference between yellowtail and catfish, for example. If you recognize the fish, that’s fine too.
If it’s a mom and pop store/restaurant that you’re at, there’s a chance that the fish is not what they say it is, so stick to fishes that you can identify. Or you can ask them to show you the fish. Remember that in order to be a problem they have to use a cheaper fish to trick you with. The cheapest fish is Pollock, which is kosher.
In any supermarket, chain store, or larger operations where there are many employees, you can rely on what fish they say it is, because it’s not worth it for them to lie.
I hope I didn’t confuse you, but it’s important through this process for me to teach you the halachic background, so when you are sitting in that store, you understand what is happening.
Your biggest problem with sushi is the rice.
Sashimi is easy. It’s raw fish. No problem. Confirm which fish it is and enjoy.
All soy sauce is fine and any wasabi is good.
everything else has rice.
The problem with rice is Bishul Akum, the cooking of a non-Jew.
If there’s a Jew that owns the place or a Jew in the kitchen that cooks the rice or can turn on the fire, you’re fine.
Otherwise, stick to raw fish and vegetables.
Seaweed is fine.
If someone has any better options, I’d love to hear.
Enjoy!
How can one confirm which fish it is? They remove the skin hours prior when they are preparing the fish for the sashimi.
Excellent point. I should have addressed that.
So, your simple solution is to stick to salmon and tuna, which are difficult to fake and not worth playing with.
Technically, the white fishes can be replaced with a fish that isn’t kosher. But it’s not that simple.
If you eat sushi regularly, you can tell the difference between yellowtail and catfish, for example. If you recognize the fish, that’s fine too.
If it’s a mom and pop store/restaurant that you’re at, there’s a chance that the fish is not what they say it is, so stick to fishes that you can identify. Or you can ask them to show you the fish. Remember that in order to be a problem they have to use a cheaper fish to trick you with. The cheapest fish is Pollock, which is kosher.
In any supermarket, chain store, or larger operations where there are many employees, you can rely on what fish they say it is, because it’s not worth it for them to lie.
I hope I didn’t confuse you, but it’s important through this process for me to teach you the halachic background, so when you are sitting in that store, you understand what is happening.