Sushi Trivia Quiz Questions and Answers

Sushi trivia quiz questions with answers.

Sushi Trivia Quiz Questions and Answers

What is sushi?
A: Sushi is a Japanese dish of prepared vinegared rice usually with some sugar and salt, accompanying a variety of ingredients such as seafood, vegetables, and occasionally tropical fruits.

Styles of sushi and its presentation vary widely, but the one key ingredient is what?
A: “Sushi rice", also referred to as shari or sumeshi.

The term sushi is no longer used in its original context, what did it literally mean?
A: "Sour-tasting".

Sushi is traditionally made with what type of rice?
A: Medium-grain white rice, though it can be prepared with brown rice or short-grain rice.

It is very often prepared with seafood such as what?
A: Calamari, eel, or imitation crab meat.

Many types of sushi are what?
A: Vegetarian.

It is often served with pickled ginger (gari), wasabi, and what?
A: Soy sauce.

Daikon radish or pickled daikon (takuan) are popular what?
A: Garnishments for the dish.

Sushi is sometimes confused with sashimi, a related dish in Japanese cuisine that consists of what?
A: Thinly sliced raw fish, or occasionally meat, and an optional serving of rice.

Sushi originates in a Southeast Asian dish, known today as what?
A: Narezushi, ("salted fish"), stored in fermented rice for possibly months at a time.

The lacto-fermentation of the rice prevented the fish from what?
A: Spoiling; the rice would be discarded before consumption of the fish.

This early type of sushi became an important source of what for its Japanese consumers?
A: Protein.

Narezushi still exists as a regional specialty, notably as what?
A: Funa-zushi from Shiga Prefecture.

Why did vinegar begin to be added to the preparation of narezushi in the Muromachi period (1336–1573)?
A: For the sake of enhancing both taste and preservation.

In addition to increasing the sourness of the rice, the vinegar significantly increased the dish's what?
A: Longevity, causing the fermentation process to be shortened and eventually abandoned.

The primitive sushi would be further developed in Osaka, where over several centuries it became what?
A: Oshi-zushi or "hako-zushi".

In this preparation, the seafood and rice were pressed into shape with what?
A: Wooden (typically bamboo) molds.

It was not until the Edo period (1603-1868) that fresh fish was served over what?
A: Vinegared rice and nori.

The common ingredient in all types of sushi is what?
A: Vinegared sushi rice.

Chirashizushi, "scattered sushi", also referred to as barazushi, serves the rice in a bowl and tops it with what?
A: A variety of raw fish and vegetable garnishes.

It is commonly eaten because it is what?
A: Filling, fast and easy to make.

It is eaten annually on what in March?
A: Hinamatsuri.

Cone sushi is a variant of inarizushi originating in Hawaii that may include what?
A: Green beans, carrots, or gobo along with rice, wrapped in a triangular aburage piece.

It is often sold in okazu-ya (Japanese delis) and as a component of what?
A: Bento boxes.

What is nori?
A: Nori is a type of algae, traditionally cultivated in the harbors of Japan.

Originally, algae was scraped from dock pilings, rolled out into thin, edible sheets, and dried in the sun, in a process similar to making what?
A: Rice paper.

Today, the commercial product is farmed, processed, toasted, packaged, and sold how?
A: In sheets.

Nori by itself is an edible snack and is available with salt or flavored with what type of sauce?
A: Teriyaki sauce.

When making fukusazushi, what may replace a sheet of nori as the wrapping?
A: A paper-thin omelet.

The omelet is traditionally made on a rectangular omelet pan (makiyakinabe), and used to form what?
A: The pouch for the rice and fillings.

Sushi made of meats other than fish (whether raw or cooked) is a variation often seen where?
A: In Japan.

For culinary, sanitary, and aesthetic reasons, the minimum quality and freshness of fish to be eaten raw must be superior to what?
A: That of fish which is to be cooked.

Sushi chefs are trained to recognize important attributes, including what?
A: Smell, color, firmness, and freedom from parasites that may go undetected in commercial inspection.

What is the most valued sushi ingredient?
A: Toro, the fatty cut of the fish.

Aburi style refers to nigiri sushi where the fish is what?
A: Partially grilled (topside) and partially raw. Most nigiri sushi will have completely raw neta.

Kani kama, or imitation crab stick, is commonly substituted for real crab, most notably in what?
A: California rolls.

Sushi is commonly eaten with what?
A: Condiments.

Sushi may be dipped in shōyu (soy sauce), and is usually flavored with wasabi, a piquant paste made from the grated stem of what?
A: The Wasabia japonica plant.

True wasabi has anti-microbial properties and may reduce the risk of what?
A: Food poisoning.

The traditional grating tool for wasabi is a what?
A: Asharkskin grater or samegawa oroshi.

Why is gari, (sweet, pickled ginger), eaten in between sushi courses?
A: To both cleanse the palate and aid digestion.

In Japan, what beverage is invariably served together with sushi?
A: Green tea (ocha).

Better sushi restaurants often use a distinctive premium tea known as what?
A: Mecha.

Sushi may be garnished with gobo, grated daikon, thinly sliced vegetables, carrots/radishes/cucumbers that have been shaped to look like what?
A: Flowers, real flowers, or seaweed salad.

When closely arranged on a tray, different pieces are often separated by green strips called what?
A: Baran or kiri-zasa.

Originally, these were cut leaves from what?
A: The Aspidistra elatior haran and Sasa veitchii kuma-zasa plants, respectively.

Using actual leaves had the added benefit of releasing what?
A: Antimicrobial phytoncides when cut thereby extending the limited shelf life of the sushi.

What is tsume?
A: Sweet thick sauce mainly made of soy sauce.

Unlike sashimi, which is almost always eaten with chopsticks, nigirizushi is traditionally eaten with what?
A: The fingers, even in formal settings.

Although it is commonly served on a small platter with a side dish for dipping, sushi can also be served in a what?
A: A bento, a box with small compartments that hold the various dishes of the meal.

Soy sauce is the usual condiment, and sushi is normally served with a what?
A: A small sauce dish, or a compartment in the bento.

Sushi bento boxes are a staple of what?
A: Japanese supermarkets and convenience stores.

Sushi sold in shops is usually sold in what?
A: Plastic trays.

Many of the seafood ingredients contain omega-3 fatty acids, which have a variety of what?
A: Health benefits.

Sushi has a relatively high sodium content, especially contributed from what?
A: Shoyu soy sauce seasoning.

Sashimi or other types of sushi containing raw fish present a risk of infection by what three main types of parasites?
A: Clonorchis sinensis, a fluke, Anisakis, a roundworm, and anisakiasis Diphyllobothrium, a tapeworm.

For the above reasons, EU regulations forbid the use of what?
A: Fresh raw fish.

It must be frozen at temperatures below −20 °C (−4 °F) in all parts of the product for how long?
A: No less than 24 hours.

According to recent studies, there have been about how many infections worldwide from eating raw fish?
A: 18 million.

What is narezushi?
A: Narezushi, ("matured sushi"), is a traditional form of fermented sushi.

Skinned and gutted fish are stuffed with salt, placed in a wooden barrel, doused with salt again, then weighed down with what?
A: A heavy tsukemonoishi (pickling stone).

As days pass, what seeps out and is removed?
A: Water.

After six months, this sushi can be eaten, remaining edible for how long?
A: Another six months or more.