When I first started eating sushi back in the late 1980’s,

there was only one sushi restaurant in Baton Rouge –

Koto on College Drive. I remember the novelty of it. My friends all looked at me like I was from another planet when I told them of my new addiction. “Raw seafood?” I got the big-eyed stare as they reached for the cornmeal batter and frying oil, “Are you crazy?”

Slowly but surely they too have joined the sushi bandwagon. It only took a few trips. Getting the uninitiated into a sushi restaurant is a tribute to their trust in you. It’s always good to begin the initiation with a nice glass of wine or a little sake. Then you start them off with the cooked stuff. It’s often a slow trip from the plate to the mouth with that first bite. Don’t rush them. You have to be willing to wait. You let them settle in for a while. There are lots of cooked rolls for them to explore as they watch you graze the whole menu.

Then you slowly seduce them into the raw. Some go more willingly than others. But that’s the real sushi. They can only watch you for so long before they want to taste what you’re tasting. In my experience, it only takes about two trips and…they’re hooked! I speculate that it’s the high sodium content in the soy sauce but once you’re hooked on sushi the cravings can become quite overwhelming.

Fast forward twenty years and sushi restaurants are on every corner. It’s now quite fashionable to be a ‘sushi lover.’ Baton Rouge is now home to over 10 sushi establishments with Tokyo Café our newest and Koto our oldest still going strong. New Orleans and Lafayette also boast a sushi restaurant on practically every corner. Some of my favorites in this tri-city region are – Waka House, Kamado, & Koto in Baton Rouge; Sake Café, Shogun, and Little Tokyo in New Orleans; and Bonsai, Tsunami, and Sakura in Lafayette. All offer incredibly fresh seafood and their own delectable special rolls as well as the standard favorites.

So why has sushi succeeded so well in South Louisiana? Let’s first examine the common ingredients: rice, fresh seafood, and spicy ingredients such as scallions or wasabi. I think you can see where I am going with this.

Now for the history lesson; in the 18^th century, Edo-mae zushi evolved and most closely resembles the sushi that is so common today in Japan and beyond. This dish was made of fresh fish and rice. Prior to this sushi was fermented fish. This new version was considered an inexpensive dish for the commoner. Edo-mae is translated into Edo Bay which is located in present day Tokyo and provided an abundance of fresh fish. Zushi or today sushi means snack or in this sense, rice snack. By the 19^th century this fresh fish rice snack was gaining in popularity.

During this same period, the Cajuns began inhabiting parts of Southern Louisiana along the Gulf coast. The area provided fertile land for growing a variety of crops not the least of which was rice. The Mississippi River and numerous bayous and waterways provided settlers with an abundance of crabs, crawfish, oysters, shrimp and fish. I’m sure the Spanish, French, and German influences provided a basis for additional spice, flavor and creativity.

Somewhere along the line, out of necessity or boredom, those early Louisianans started dabbling in the daring. And without a second thought, we now eat raw oysters, hog-head cheese, cow tongue, turtle soup, boudin, alligator and cracklins. And of course, crawfish which we know as delicious but were considered little more than a muddy insect or fish bait before the rest of the world caught up. All are examples of the many dishes once considered ‘food for the commoner’ in Louisiana. Considering this, sushi in all of its forms does not seem quite so exotic.

So here we are, modern day Cajuns in the 21^st century, like the Japanese commoners of centuries past, enjoying the Rainbow, Spicy Tuna, Dragon, Tiger Eyes, Soft Shell Crab, BBQ Eel and a cacophony of other exotic rolls and it all feels like home. Makes perfect sense to me.

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