Various sushi, beautiful October night at midnight. It was the fast food of the chōnin class in the Edo period. Sushi is traditionally what to cook for dinner tonight with medium-grain white rice, though it can be prepared with brown rice or short-grain rice.

Sushi is sometimes confused with sashimi, a similar dish in Japanese cuisine that consists of thinly sliced raw fish or occasionally meat. Japanese practice of applying rice on raw fish. The fish was fermented with rice vinegar, salt, and rice, after which the rice was discarded. The lacto-fermentation of the rice prevents the fish from spoiling. When wet-field rice cultivation was introduced during the Yayoi period, lakes and rivers would flood during the rainy season, and fish would get caught in the rice paddy fields. The term sushi literally means “sour-tasting,” as the overall dish has a sour and umami or savory taste. In addition to increasing the rice’s sourness, the vinegar significantly increased the dish’s longevity, causing the fermentation process to be shortened and eventually abandoned.