What’s the difference between sushi and sashimi? If you’re dining at our Lynnwood sushi restaurant, it’s important to know. Failing to distinguish between the two could mean ending up with a dish entirely different from what you were expecting, or it could at very least look unrefined in the eyes of some of the more dedicated Japanese food aficionados.
The first thing to know is that the word “sushi” does not refer to the fish, but rather the rice. Sushi rice is that special preparation of vinegared short-grain rice that has been used in sushi since before it stopped being simply a means to ferment fish. Therefore, it’s not sushi if it doesn’t have rice in it, but it can be sushi without having fish. Sushi rolls and nigiri-sushi are both sushi, therefore, even if they do not contain any raw fish. Sashimi, on the other hand, is nothing but a piece of fish, and therefore cannot be identified as sushi.