Just imagine: Today we have a new generation that can’t even remember a time when there wasn’t…

No, not computers. No, not cell phones. I’m talking about sushi!

I betray my age when I say I remember the days before those cute, colorful little rolls were the sine qua non of every simchah spread. When I was a kid, exotic meant Chinese food — sesame chicken, beef with broccoli — not Japanese. Whouda thought a dish made of raw fish and seaweed would capture the hearts and stomachs of the Orthodox Jewish world? Who’d have dreamed the craze would actually last?

The food-obsessed kosher world always has an eye out for what non-kosher foodies are up to. When sushi made its appearance, it was a craze that lent itself easily to kosher chefs: It’s mostly made from kosher ingredients and is incredibly versatile — it can be a snack or a meal. And unlike pizza or chicken fingers, it’s pareve! It could swing either way at a party, be it an elegant wedding smorg or a milchig Melaveh Malkah.

“Sushi has been the biggest single game changer in the kosher world,” says Elan Kornblum of Great Kosher Restaurants. “No other item in the kosher world has had so much influence. People now assume pizza and sushi go together! There are caterers who won’t do an event if there isn’t a sushi table because it doesn’t reflect well on their business.”

A Fishy Story

So where does sushi come from? According to Japanese folklore, an elderly woman afraid that thieves would steal her store of rice began hiding it in ospreys’ nests. Over time the rice would ferment and become mixed with scraps of fish discarded by the birds, which preserved the fish longer. The mixture was tasty, so the Japanese began eating fermented rice and fish together.

But this charming piece of folklore is misleading: