I haven't thought of sushi that way but I think it's a wonderful way to think of it. Though I suspect that lobster and salmon are not local to Texas.

When I think of traditional sushi I think of fairly simple combinations, such as fish, wasabi and sushi rice, where the focus is on a particularly quality ingredient (fish, horse, beef, or whatever) and not on a combination of six or eight different flavors. I do, however, love much of the creative sushi I see coming out of the US but I generally think of it as California cuisine more than sushi. All of the creative rolls are certainly unlike anything I had when I lived in Japan and I haven't seen anything close to some of these rolls on my recent visits. That doesn't mean it's not good food, just not necessarily what I think of as "sushi." Indeed, one of my friends from Japan asks to go to Blowfish Sushi here in SF when he comes to visit because he loves it but can't find anything like it in Tokyo.