Most sushi places offer things that don't include fish or rice. Most have meat/noodle/salad like foods too.

For people who like rice but not fish, serve vegetarian makisushi (simple rolls). Common vegetarian ingredients include avocado, cucumber, and plum. You could also use cooked chicken or beef instead of fish, though at that point your food is becoming more Japanese-inspired than Japanese-- by which I mean that I've never seen "grilled steak maki" served anywhere in Japan.

For people who can eat neither rice nor fish, why make it difficult by trying to feed them sushi? Sushi is not the only style of Japanese food. Serve an izakaya style dinner with a variety of dishes such as yakitori (grilled meats on skewers), udon noodles, agedashi tofu, and Chinese dishes such as shu mai and gyoza, in addition to sushi.

The main point it, don't get hung up on creating facsimiles of fish and rice. A vegetarian friend of mine observes that the worst vegetarian food is the stuff designed to look and taste like meat. As if all vegetarians are secretly craving bacon! For your guests who dislike rice and fish, look for other Japanese foods they will like, or find ways to serve the food they do like with Japanese ambiance.

Not in Japan they don't. And anything else is imitation. Sorry.

GadgetFreak makes some good points. I agree that there are a wealth of alternatives that would be very pleasing.

That said, if the host is doing a course menu as would occur in Japan, and one of those courses is sushi, it may be necessary to come up with an alternative so as not to make the guest terribly uncomfortable at that stage of the meal.

A thought that occurs to me is that the inside part of a loaf of french bread (i.e. the soft part after the crust has been removed could be shaped to roughly equate to a piece of rolled sushi rice) could be used. Then one could place a piece of similarly colored meat (roast beef for maguro for example) on the bread and place it on the plate discretely.

Mike

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I have eaten at a lot of restaurants in Japan that had a lot of other dishes than sushi.

As have I. The point was a traditional sushi place may offer soup or similar warm dish, but other than that and sushi not much else. Many restaurants offer a wide variety of dishes but are not called sushi shops. I was referring specifically to a sushi shop not a Japanese food restaurant as a more general term.

No need to split hairs, because I am sure one could find a few sushi shops that do try and offer alternative menus, but to say that

"Most sushi places offer things that don't include fish or rice. Most have meat/noodle/salad like foods too."

just is not the case here. Japanese food while sold overseas is by and large (i.e. by the Japanese) considered authentic here.

The point I was trying to make in a post immediately preceding he one commenting on your very good point about alternatives, was that sushi is what one gets at a sushi shop, but alternatives aplenty exist in Japan.

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Understand and agree. Fake sushi creeps me out. Good yakatori, yum ;)

That is an awesome suggestion for the OP actually. Grilled skewers are fun, delicious, can contain all kinds of acceptable ingredients, and can even be done in manner that includes the guests while it is cooking.

And, when you are next here, if your time allows, I will show a place you definitely want to return to again. :)

Vietnamese summer rolls or lettuce wraps could be a decent subsitute for a hand roll type sushi.

Grated steamed cauliflower makes a nice low carb rice substitute, but it wont stick together like sushi rice.

In Japan, proper sushi is only eaten at sushi restaurants. Izakayas and other casual restaurants (such as hotel restaurants) may offer a small selection of nigiri sushi or rolls, but it is not the "real deal" so to speak.

At sushi restaurants, a meal will usually include various "tsumami," such as small grilled fish or shellfish, crabs, makimono etc... but the focus is always on the sashimi and nigiri sushi. These restaurants do not offer "alternative" menues for those who don't want to eat sushi.

Sushi is only one kind of Japanese food, and most people in Japan do not eat it very frequently. Additionally, there are many different types of sushi, and sushi chefs often offer their own renditions of various items (as opposed to offering strictly edo-mae sushi, for example). In other words, endless variety is possible.

I wonder if large grain couscous (maftoul, the stuff from the Middle East) couldn't be used instead of rice? As to couscous not being sticky - over cook it ;)

Re: Fake Sushi


The only time I've ever had Spam was at a Hawaiian restaurant in a brick of "sushi" with that item substituted for the fish.

I made these at Easter & they were quite a hit--lol.
http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2...ts-easter.html

Thats not sushi, thats musubi. YUM!

Well ... it qualified as "fake sushi" to me (Ohana in Belltown, BTW). My father refused to allow Spam in the house as he hated it during WW II as kid (meat substitute) - no liver either as my folks both hate it.