"Tippi" > wrote in message
...
On Apr 3, 10:06 am, blake murphy > wrote:

> given the elegance of classical japanese cooking, it's weird to see what
> the do in adapting western dishes.
>
>actually the Japanese is very good at taking something foreign and
>making it entirely their own. E.g. eating raw fish and growing trees
>in small pots came from China and became sashimi and bonsai
>respectively, and tempura is derived from Portuguese cuisine.

Tippi,

I am not of the opinion that eating "raw fish" came from China at all.
Having traced the roots of "sushi" to the fermented fish and rice dishes
of southeast asia and the very oldest forms of sushi (narezushi) in Japan,
it seems that this old form did pass through China but essentially
dissappeared
by the 1800s. The use of completely raw fish in Japan in the 1800s together
with vinegared rice became Edomae Zushi, what the whole world now calls
"sushi".
The practice of eating raw fish seems alomst distinctivly Japanese, perhaps
because
of being surrounded entirely by the sea. I've found some eating of raw fish
in the
coastal areas of Korea as well. Yet, I find no instances of eating raw fish
in Chinese
cities well reknowned for their seafood like Shanghai and Hongkong. Due to
the huge
land mass much of China's consumed fish are freshwater species, and
warm-water
freshwater fish simply don't lend themselves to eating raw without a risk of
parasites.
If you have any sources that suggest that raw fish consumption has any
origins in
China, I'd appreciate you posting the link so I can study it.

Regards
Musashi