Sushi and Sashimi: California Roll

In the 1960s Ken Seusa, master sushi chef at Kin Jo restaurant in Los Angeles, found that many of his customers were squeamish about eating raw fish. He experimented with all sorts of nontraditional ingredients, such as hot sauce, mayonnaise, and avocado, in an effort to make a sushi roll that appealed to Western tastes. One of Seusa’s creations was the California roll, a sheet of nori enclosing rice, cucumber, crabmeat (or surimi—imitation crab), and avocado. Japanese customers were put off by this novel concoction, but the California roll was a big hit with non-Japanese diners in Los Angeles. Seusa’s creation gained national visibility when it was mentioned in Gourmet magazine in 1980. The New York Times covered the California roll the following year, when the restaurant critic Mimi Sheraton cautioned New Yorkers against this “misbegotten invention” devised to appeal to American tastes. Despite her warning, the California roll found an audience all across America and even in Japan, although traditionalist sushi masters refused to serve it. For many Americans the California roll opened the door to enjoyment of “real” sushi and sashimi.