Salmon Sushi Is Not Real

Salmon sushi is a myth! Thank you Surfshark for sponsoring this video. Go tosurfshark.deals/ANDONG and enter promo code ANDONG for 83% off and 3 months free.
When I hear Japanese food, my first thought is sushi. Usually, a salmon nigiri appears in my mind. But did you know that Japan didn't eat raw salmon until the 90s? And that Norway invented Salmon Sushi? Or... did it?
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Written & Directed by Andong
Camera & Editing by Eypee Kaamiño
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Research & Production Support by Grace Phan-Nguyen
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Spanish subtitles by Daniel González.
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00:00 Intro
0:53 Salmon Sushi
2:01 Personal Context with Sushi
2:53 Sushi History
7:00 Surfshark Sponsorship
8:22 Salmon Sushi Conspiracy and Norway
11:08 The Sushi Lie Within The Sushi Lie
12:23 The Challenge of Investigative Food Journalism and Research
14:30 Conclusion

[@mynameisandong]

Thank you again to Surfshark for sponsoring this video! Go to surfshark.deals/ANDONG and enter promo code ANDONG for 83% off and 3 months free.

[@TheSlavChef]

Surfshark Sushi!

[@raifikarj6698]

Andong i just read a comment from The Big Story Video and someone say the salmon sushi is created in Vancouver Canada if this true your video basically the same as sushi created by Norwegian. you need to create video for The true creator of salmon sushi

[@alove9212]

Hi Andong, please watch 'Seaspiracy' and make a video on 'MSC' (Marine Stewardship Council) to share with your platforms 🙏

[@RalphH007]

When I was in Japan years ago, I even saw nigiri with spam, so I think everything goes :)

[@SunFlower-jo2vn]

hey if you need an idea for a food origin video, try one about tempura :P

[@clayoppenhuizen607]

As someone who's a historian, I will share this with students to understand how to do research and why reflecting on research is as important as the finished product (an essay, article, etc.)

[@mechayeti9476]

Also teach them about fake research papers. You know the ones, like "Pepsi can make mice infertile, funded by Coca-Cola Company".

[@Kardinaalilintu]

Please do. Doing proper research is criminally overlooked.

[@tavern.keeper]

Also check out CGP Grey's video breaking down how easily a factual error can slip by despite many rounds of research and error checking.

[@myclamish]

@@mechayeti9476 can you link to the paper? i was curious, but can't find it.

[@barbarusbloodshed6347]

I hope you're American. The next few generations of US students really need a good dose of how-to-research. And some how-to-spot-a-fascist sprinkled on top.

[@zeroibis]

Just wanted to correct that the California Roll was created in Vancouver Canada by Chef Hidekazu Tojo for which he was later honored with the title of goodwill ambassador for Japanese cuisine by Japan's ministry of agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

[@bobrezendeassis]

And why he called it California Roll?

[@zeroibis]

@@bobrezendeassis He wanted to create a roll using ingredients like avocados which came from California. Also keep in mind that California evokes the image of a warm and sunny place, quite appealing when your in a cold Canadian winter.

[@tiendungle2145]

I'm pretty sure he wanted to call it the inside-out roll. Check out more on Big Great Story's video here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/aYTaiWt3g9ZqgtU

[@zeroibis]

@@tiendungle2145 "Originally called "Tojo-maki", Tojo later changed the name to California roll because of its popularity with visitors from Los Angeles"

[@isaacbattershell1530]

@@zeroibis oo

[@Pammellam]

Dearest Andong: here in Japan where I have lived for 55 years, anything put on or with sushi rice is basically considered sushi. As another commentor has said, in Okinawa you can get spam on sushi rice and that would be sushi. Mothers will often make chirashi Zushi, which is a kind of sushi bowl with various kinds of items spread on top of the sushi rice. And the mothers will use canned tuna and various cooked or uncooked vegetable items, cooked strips of egg etc. etc. to make snacks and lunches for their kids. Kyoto restaurants will put Kyoto type pickles on sushi rice and that is also sushi. There is sushi with roast beef on it and steak sushi, and the steak is cooked. Although lightly cooked. Deep-fried items like some kind of Tempura are also put on sushi rice. So I think that if it tastes good and you like it, you can make all sorts of interesting sushi items with whatever you have at home.

[@allhumansarejusthuman.5776]

Thank you! My neighbour would trade thier sushi with my junk food when I had a treat he wanted and it was never ever the same things or strictly sorted, fish rolls the gardens veggies and canned tuna was almost always inbound. Sushi was just on sushi rice and good. (He didnt seem to like rice 😅) My favorite was anytime there was fried eggplants with the sushi. 😋.

[@mfaizsyahmi]

I got overwhelming urge to read this like Bubba talking about shrimp.

[@TsunamiWombat]

A lot of westerners don't realize that Sushi is literally the rice, the name Sushi is *the rice* and the other stuff is a *topping for the Sushi, which is the rice*

[@messerjocke2000]

Sushi rice with steak sounds intruiging!

[@Pammellam]

@@messerjocke2000 :::: Actually tender good Japanese steak sliced thinly, medium rare, has about the same fat ratio as some of the better maguro, like chu-toro. It is very tasty. I seen roast beef and steak sushi but never chicken or pork which are not really as tender.

[@CHEFPKR]

I feel like Sushi is similar to making Cheese. Some varieties are so simple that if even one ingredient is off, it can be bad.

[@davidlawand2805]

im a big fan btw how do you make sushi graded salmon? i always get scared when i make homemade and i opt for smoked.. help ;-;

[@jakeconnelly2441]

The more simple your recipe, the less places your flaws have to hide.

[@thomas77000retour]

As a French, we are horrified how industrial group in other country make you taste horrible cheeses under the real name and make you believe this is our real product

[@staticsight]

@@davidlawand2805 sushi grade fish is something you buy- it has to be incredibly fresh and incredibly clean to be eaten raw safely

[@davidlawand2805]

@@staticsight but where do i get it from? i havent found a single store within 30km of me that sells that :(

[@rchlh]

I'm an English teacher and this is a great example of how to check your sources and media literacy. I plan on using it with students!

[@wuck2226]

I'm happy to learn Sensei :)

[@nine7295]

Yes, but there are some flaws in the logic in the video. If you are interested,, please check out my comment above on the matter.

[@zaneblack1132]

You're a lazy teacher

[@HakingMC]

@@zaneblack1132 How is she a lazy teacher? Using a KZbin video as a teaching material is commonplace.

[@WoodimusMaximus]

You’re an awesome teacher! Using real word examples of how important it is to check your facts and sources .

[@verdatum]

The NHK program "Begin Japanology", has an episode on salmon, which, being Japanese produced, does a good job at properly telling this story. And yeah, some in Japan knew the West was eating salmon sushi, but there was zero demand for it until Norway did its thing.

[@brucetownsend691]

I think you are correct. I first started eating sushi and sashimi in 1987 when a friend who was about to go teach English in Japan took me to one of the few sushi places in Sydney. In the 1990s sushi started to take off in Australia. It was hard to get good tuna as it was mostly airfreighted to Japan to be sold for a premium price. At that time, the farming of Atlantic salmon in Tasmania had begun. Atlantic salmon was very fresh, readily available and relatively cheap. It quickly established itself as the most common fish for sushi and sashimi here. When I started travelling regularly to Japan in 1998, I found the sushi was amazing but there was no salmon. As Andong said, sake (local salmon not the drink) was universally perceived as not really suitable for sushi and sashimi. After a number of years, I started to see more Atlantic Salmon being used and now it can even be seen combined with avocado. It is often sold as “salmon” as opposed to “sake” to differentiate it. However, salmon does not tolerate freezing process as well as tuna so the salmon which comes frozen from Norway is nowhere near as good as the fresh product from Tasmania that we get in Australia. To get that, the fish needs to be airfreighted in a chilled state which adds to the cost. I have read that Pacific and Chum salmon are sea farmed in Hokkaido and that inland farming of salmon there is being developed. Perhaps the inland farms will be able to farm exotic species like Atlantic Salmon with less risk.

[@77LCJ]

@@brucetownsend691 problem is that seafarmed fish is a huge strain on the enviroment, gives the local fish parasites, creates resistance towards antibiotics, and in places, especially norway, mixes with the indigenous salmon population ruining that stock. Norwegian salmon is a huge strain on their ecosystem, and absolutely not of the quality it had when it was caught wild. The only way fishfarms can be enviromentally sustainable is if they are totally seperate from the local ecosystem ei in tanks on land.

[@mfaizsyahmi]

You mean the series featuring experienced broadcaster Peter Barakan?

[@verdatum]

@@mfaizsyahmi You know it! That man's voice is so soothing. He could pull me out of a panic attack by musing on the history of advancements in the Japanese sock industry. "I...I don't care about this at all, but you...you should tell me more..."

[@Takuu1530]

This would be common knowledge for any 1st generation Japanese over 50. If you want to hear a good story, just talk to an old school sushi chef on the west coast and they'll tell you how Americans loved salmon sushi way back and how eventually Japan changed it's perception of it and did later as well.

[@KPVallee]

As an ex-journalist who more often than not only had a few hours to research my stories before publishing: I feel you bro.

[@eugeniamikulan3328]

Wtf dude don't do that

[@sunkenships8444]

@@eugeniamikulan3328 You okay buddy?

[@eugeniamikulan3328]

@@sunkenships8444 journalists have a great power of influence in society so it should be taken extremely seriously. You can't be a journalist who "takes just a few hours of research" for each article.

[@tristan6509]

@@eugeniamikulan3328 do you think journalists actually spend days researching stuff? no. when an incident happens it's usually reported just hours after it happens, there is no such thing as good journalism.

[@eugeniamikulan3328]

@@tristan6509 they should though

[@PenSwordXII]

I love how this suddenly became a video about the importance of good journalism. Andong, you're cool.

[@markzwolinski6300]

The California Roll was supposedly invented by a Japanese born Canadian sushi chef in Vancouver in 1971. Hidekazu Tojo says he hid the seaweed to make it look more appetizing (you got that righ!) and called it a California roll because it contained avocado and crab.

[@JungleScene]

We have bad strategies for naming dishes here in Canada.... people think cali rolls are from california and hawaiian pizza is from hawaii. At least we named Nanaimo bars properly.

[@tomifost]

@@JungleScene Same here in the states. French fries, Swiss cheese, Canadian bacon, etc...

[@tedsmart5539]

@@JungleScene what's in a Nanaimo bar? Peelers and Hells Angels.

[@AeroGold1]

@@JungleScene the Japanese Canadian sushi chef who came up with California rolls named it that way to make it sound 'exotic' especially since it had avocado. If it was called the Vancouver roll, it probably wouldn't have been as popular.

[@tfae]

@@tomifost Swiss cheese is Swiss though? At least Emmentaler is.

[@wakjagner]

As someone who "wisely invested" in a history degree; I deeply appreciate your good fortune to find the root of this misinformation. A lie can get half way around the world before the truth even gets its boots on.

[@Drownedinblood]

Did you get a job in the field?

[@samiam619]

Wakjagner, I clicked on your pic. What? You’re not subscribed to “The History Guy”? Or Mark Felton?

[@In_my_own_mind]

Its no misinformation nd the title in this video is a pure lie. Norway never claimed or tries to steal salmon sushi. It was back in the 70’s Norway started wordwide distribution of Salmon. Salmon was seen as luxury. Back then raw salmon wasnt part of Japanese culinary habits. They mostly ate salmon cooked, MOSTLY. In the 80’s the Norwegian fisheries minister launched a program, called “Project Japan,” to promote the country’s seafood industry in Japan. They wanted to export all kinds of fish abroad, raw salmon included. Japan was one of the most fish-consuming countries in the world so when Norway had too much salmon nd couldnt find enough consumers to buy it, they looked to Japan. In «project Japan» they first targeted a company popular for selling frozen foods in Japan. They convinced them to purchase and distribute thousands metric tons of salmon exclusively for sushi and it became MORE acceptable to eat raw salmon on sushi. Secondly they targeted chef’s who started to use the salmon and spoke in favor of it on national television in popular cooking shows. It further convinced the public that salmon was good for sushi and it became the next big thing. No where has Norway claimed to invent sushi and that salmon sushi didnt exist, but they reinvented it and made it as popular as it is worldwide today. Thats a fact!

[@Commander1991NOR]

The story I heard was that Norway created the marked for salmon sushi in Japan and then also subsequently increased global demand for salmon. I have never heard that we invented it.

[@BarbusCraft]

Same

[@foiled6144]

yeah that last twist seems forced as fuck, I thought we were talking about who popularized Salmon Sushi to begin with? If the Japanese weren't eating Salmon sushi was it really popular?

[@theSultanofSquares]

So much respect man! Not only revealing how frequent there is the reprint journalism on the internet, but also admitting to your own *almost* participation in it. It isn't some knock on you, it just shows how easy it is for regular people, looking for interesting content, can fall into that habit of not double checking. It has to be a constant battle to double check your facts, but that is boring and most people don't want to...

[@nunu6292]

It also takes effort and time to double check everything and, let's be honest, most people are way too busy dealing with work, studies, kids, family or economic issues, and whatnot... So, if the information given fits your own set of values, then almost every time you accept that information as the truth, simply because it doesn't challenge your preexistent beliefs. Specially when those are political beliefs, no matter the side. There's misinformation or even straight out lies flying around everywhere and people simply trusts them because they belief in whatever politician or news channel said... Even knowing so, sometimes I find myself having to push me to search for the opposite political view to fact check what them or my own political affiliation claimed. So far I have only found the opposition to be telling straight out lies, but who knows if Google is not showing me just what confirms my own beliefs... I truly hope not, it sometimes shows me the opposition news first now, but it was not the case before... Who knows if there's a part of my beliefs that's totally unfounded... So far they've holded the fact checking process, but I would need to confront everything and I don't really have that much time 🙈

[@InTeCredo]

It's same with German chocolate cake in the US: People often assumed it was from Germany. It turned out that "German" was the American baker named Samuel German who developed the recipe for chocolate cakes. It used to be called "German's Chocolate Cake" earlier. Anyway, we moved to the United States from Germany because of my father's secondment. So, we got that all the time about the German chocolate cake mistakenly named as "Black Forest cake" with icky-gooey coconut-egg custard-condensed milk frosting. At the elementary school, the teachers made "Black Forest cake" as to make me and my parents feel welcomed during the PTA meeting. The teachers expected to see us gasp in amazement, but we were very puzzled when eating the pieces. One of the teachers asked, "Didn't you recognise it as the Black Forest cake?" My mum retorted, "No, that's NOT how we make it in Germany!" Shortly thereafter, she brought the genuine _Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte_ to my school, and the teachers couldn't believe how awesome the cake was. When they queried about the recipe and ingredients, they were mortified and aghast to hear that _Kirschwasser_ (strong clear brandy from cherries) was used in cherry filling. Bringing booze to the public school was forbidden...

[@JungleScene]

Here in Canada Black forest cake has that brandy cherry filling, so its nice to hear we are doing it sort of right. I suppose it must be from having a lot of german people settling here.

[@greenmachine5600]

Chocolate chip cookies, brownies and cream cheese were also invented in the US

[@kyotra]

Oh how I wish people in this country didn't have a dumbass puritan hangup over alcohol....

[@messerjocke2000]

@@greenmachine5600 but have you ever tried a german cheese cake made with quark?

[@greenmachine5600]

ya, its damn good.

[@WanderTheNomad]

Lately I've become more and more impressed about how.... _recent_ everything is.

[@DuelScreen]

It's not all so recent. You know all those touch commands for your smartphone? Pinch to zoom and whatnot? Those were invented back in the 1970s. We just didn't have the hardware back then to mass produce devices like today. Same for the various tablets and ipads. Those are old and date back to the 1960s or 1970s as well.

[@JustSpectre]

And that it's called traditional at the same time.

[@alexfrank1831]

Everything available today is recent because no one in the West takes time anymore to teach traditions to the youth. They are just taught by television and social media.

[@biggusballuz5405]

Wait till you realise that even more so are ancient.

[@yuzan3607]

@@DuelScreen Yea, when it comes to computer science (especially if you're a researcher in that field) it seems like everything you thought is recent and "new technology" was actually already been thought of and discussed in the 60's and 70's. It blows my mind every time, because the technology they had compared to today was so extremely limited and yet they've already thought of a lot of things that we are discovering today.

[@jonser2008]

I discovered sushi while in culinary school in 1987. I was amazed and bought a sushi book. It has a page on each fish type including salmon. It recommends curing or salting the fish before using for sushi due to the "potential for parasites".

[@lexica510]

"I actually just got lucky and spotted my own bullshit" and that's part of why we like and respect you. 👍🏻

[@MrSociophobia]

That came as a big shock. I'm Norwegian and work in the salmon industry and I didn't know that. You talk a lot about salmon fishing, but most Norwegian salmon is farmed. We keep broodstock for roe. They are hatched and kept on land as parr. When they become smolt, around 100-300grams, they live for about 18 months in large sea-pens. They are almost like fishing nets but made with smaller holes to keep them in. They are fed until around 5kg and then they go to a slaughterhouse/processing factory to be made into all the different cuts you find in the store. Or it's sent to another processing place to be made into other products like smoked salmon. The total production last year was 1,4 million tonnes of salmon. An average weight of 5kg makes that about 280 million salmon. For perspective, the amount of wild-caught salmon sold was 500-600 tonnes and we believe the wild population of salmon is about 1-2 million. We make efforts to make sure our production affects the wild population as little as possible, but it does have some effect. A higher amount of parasites around salmon farms for example. So if wild salmon swim close to our farms they might be affected as they go from the rivers out to sea. In the 80s-90s things were pretty crazy, there were a lot of diseases or parasites attacking the salmon and not much regulation. Today we are pretty highly regulated. We still have problems we deal with, new diseases become the focus as vaccines are made for the old ones. A big effort is being made to make the production as eco-friendly as possible. However, compared to meat production on land we are already far ahead in both efficiency and environmental effects. Salmon requires far fewer resources to produce and has a smaller ecological footprint than the production of land animals. That being said like all food production it has its downsides. Salmon lice, parasites that attack its skin and scales making sores. A couple diseases mostly PD, pancreas disease that attacks the digestive system. A new one we are looking at is Pasteurella, a bacteria that makes boils and skin sores, which makes the fish vulnerable to infection. On the other hand, we don't have to be afraid that we are overfishing and killing our fjords and oceans. In all farmed salmon is one of the healthiest things you can eat, taking both your own health and the health of the planet into consideration.

[@vinsentpeteh4886]

What about the new and very mindblowing movie called Seaspiracy? It does not paint salmon farming so eco-friendly considering that in the production of feed fish oil is used.

[@yakaridubois3378]

Thank you for your post! What about salmon's diet ? Being carnivorous, how do you get food for them ? I have heard it is a problem because small fishes are fished to feed farmed salmon, and small fish would otherwise feed other wild fishes.. Could you comment on that? Thank you

[@MrSociophobia]

@@yakaridubois3378 There is very little wild fish that goes into feed. Some premium stuff uses a bit. We now use a lot of plant products in the feed. The rest comes from the cutoffs and extras of production for human consumption.

[@MrSociophobia]

@@vinsentpeteh4886 Fish oil production definitely put a strain on wild fish populations in the past. Not necessarily species that go to human consumption. Norwegian fishing quotas are very strictly regulated and controlled nowadays. Keeping the wellbeing of the wild populations in mind. Today we have some feed types that only use plant based ingredients. Premium feed types use more marine ingredients. However, the production of fishmeal and fish oil today comes mostly from the leftovers of production for human consumption or bycatch from other fishing operations. We no longer fish solely for the production of fishmeal and fish oil. But I'm sure it still happens somewhere. As I said fish farming isn't without drawbacks. But compared to other meat production, specially beef, it's very efficient. The most damaging type of aqua farming is probably shrimp/prawn farming in asia. That's a guess on my part. The feed production isn't is as damaging I'd guess, but the mangrove forest that is removed to make production ponds has larger ecological consequences. It leads to shore erosion, removes protection from extreme weather like tsunamis and destroys the habitats of other creatures. I haven't seen Seaspiracy, I'll have to check it out, but I have seen a lot of pieces like it. Usually there are a lot outdated claims. A Norwegian named Kurt Oddekall made a ton of films claiming Norwegian salmon was full of antibiotics and heavy metals. Antibiotics were used in the 80s before salmon vaccines were invented. And heavy metal levels are no higher than in wild-caught fish, usually lower. But from the trailer I can see that Seaspiracy focuses a lot on overfishing as well which is a big problem. In Norway wild fish populations have been stable, but I know that the Chinese have basically emptied the south china sea. And now they send fishing fleets far away basically emptying other parts of the oceans. My greatest fear as far as climate change goes is probably overfishing coupled with changes in the temperature and pH of the ocean. That would decimate marine life, and take away a lot of our food production. My hope is that aqua farming can help prevent at least the overfishing part. The far future goal is to take the entire salmon production out of the fjords into land based facilities. Or into off-shore farms along the lines of off shore oil rigs. Time will tell which. I only know that if we only had wild salmon the wild population would last long with today's demand.

[@MrSociophobia]

@@yakaridubois3378 I know I already answered but I answered another comment way more in depth if you are interested.

[@michaelmcnally1242]

My daughter recently took a college class in Historiography and now I can't bring up a subject from history without being prepared to hand over a bibliography with reverse-citations noted.

[@samiam619]

When she was going through Driver Training as a teenager, did she watch you like a Hawk while you drove to tell you what you were doing wrong?

[@Screamingtut]

I was in Japan in 1984 for my job as an electronic engineer. I had the company engineers I was working with taking me out after work to eat, we had Salmon Sushi back then.

[@entertheabzu]

The plot thickens.

[@In_my_own_mind]

Who said salmon sushi didnt exist back then? Whats true though, is that it wasnt popular or globally a thing This video is falsely accusing Norway of something they have never claimed. The title in this video is a pure lie. Norway never claimed or tries to steal salmon sushi. It was back in the 70’s Norway started wordwide distribution of Salmon. Salmon was seen as luxury. Back then raw salmon wasnt part of Japanese culinary habits. They mostly ate salmon cooked, MOSTLY. In the 80’s the Norwegian fisheries minister launched a program, called “Project Japan,” to promote the country’s seafood industry in Japan. They wanted to export all kinds of fish abroad, raw salmon included. Japan was one of the most fish-consuming countries in the world so when Norway had too much salmon nd couldnt find enough consumers to buy it, they looked to Japan. In «project Japan» they first targeted a company popular for selling frozen foods in Japan. They convinced them to purchase and distribute thousands metric tons of salmon exclusively for sushi and it became MORE acceptable to eat raw salmon on sushi. Secondly they targeted chef’s who started to use the salmon and spoke in favor of it on national television in popular cooking shows. It further convinced the public that salmon was good for sushi and it became the next big thing. No where has Norway claimed to invent sushi and that salmon sushi didnt exist, but they reinvented it and made it as popular as it is worldwide today. Thats a fact!

[@patiencebear]

Expected a funny story about Sushi. Got a history and media ethics lesson without being boring. Excellent work.

[@gozerthegozarian9500]

That face when a foodtuber has more integrity and commitment to research & factfulness than a lot of self-appointed political/philosphical youtube channels... Andong = Ehrenmann!

[@berndbernd3464]

not just youtube.... i can listen to an hour of news on TV / radio... and spot more fake news than actual news.

[@stephaniemay9090]

and thats something that more people need to realize. the platform/company/position a person has doesnt correlate to credibility. the methodology is the integrity = credibility. not all studies are the same. the methodology is presented to verify.

[@TheSlavChef]

Came for the conspiracy, stayed for the food :D

[@hin_hale]

"Thor and his buddies were sent to Japan". Now that's a marvel movie I want to see.

[@pebrero8]

I just discovered your channel today and I am SO GLAD I did (and also sorry I didn’t discover you earlier). So great to have well-researched food stories that are relatable and engaging to a wide audience. The internet NEEDS more people like you who value substance over boring superfluous content that you see over and over again. Keep up the great work and I do hope that more KZbinrs follow this style of “slow food journalism!”

[@blazzinrazzin]

When Andong says "let me explain...." all of my worries wash away.

[@EirikNewth1]

Your videos are always brilliant and fun (soviet sausage!) but this struck close to home. I live in Norway, I love salmon sushi and OF COURSE I bought into the story of how this was a Norwegian invention. Sadly, now salmon sushi has joined the ranks of the paperclip - another Norwegian invention actually invented elsewhere. Well, I guess we'll always have the cheese slicer, right? Or.... do we? Maybe you should take a look? :D

[@MrSociophobia]

Mass production of fertilizer isn't bad either. Probably saved a few lives over the years.

[@EirikNewth1]

@@milema8155 It's a brilliant tool for the right kind of cheese, I totally agree. Works especially well with that Norwegian delicacy, brown goat's cheese. :)

[@wwoods66]

@@EirikNewth1 'Cause all you want is a _thin_ shaving of gjetost.

[@eduardgrenz4979]

@@MrSociophobia "Mass production of fertilizer isn't bad either. Probably saved a few lives over the years. " that ones German (Haber-Bosch-Prozess)

[@Zeverinsen]

Who in the world told you it was a Norwegian invention? 🤔 Maybe they stopped telling us that in school when I was born... We only severely affected the popularity of the concept, but in truth it had probably been done *long* before the first recorded incident, like most things.

[@georgerichardson5116]

I'm 66 years old, half Japanese and spent the summers of 1970 and 72 in Japan. I did have salmon then though not very often. I don't recall if it was liked or not. I've always loved it. I grew up in California's central valley in the 60s and when we wanted sushi we had to travel 4 towns away to get it. Raw salmon was always a favorite for me even back then. Whether it came from the Pacific or the Atlantic, I don't know. Now days I only eat Pacific salmon. Anything from the Atlantic is normally farmed and I won't touch it. I don't see wild caught Atlantic salmon here in California but if I do I will definitely give it a try.

[@jzthompson9598]

I recommend this channel to everyone I talk with about food. I don't always want to cook everything, but I sure appreciate learning all about stuff I'd never research. Thank you, Andong, for helping the quarantine go by.

[@pennyforyourthots]

So, since you're German and pretty good at looking up the historical origins of things, there's something I've been wondering about for a while. In the United States we have something called a "whoopie pie", which was supposedly popularized by the Amish, who have a lot of overlap with the Pennsylvania Dutch, AKA German immigrants (dutch being a corruption of Deutsche, no relation to the actual Dutch). It's basically two chocolate cakes with a cream or frosting filling in between, and in my mind seems very similar to milchschnitte. The thing is, from what I've read, milchschnitte is Italian in Origins, which made me wonder if there was some sort of precursor in Germany that was adapted by Italian recipes, or if it's just a complete coincidence that these two things are similar. milchschnitte is also very reminiscent of ice cream sandwiches, and if it is Italian in origin, it makes me wonder if it came to America VIA Italian immigrants and eventually became what we now know as the ice cream sandwich. To me it feels like they have to be related somehow, but considering how simple these recipes really are, it's entirely possible that this is just random coincidence and the Pennsylvania Dutch whoopie pie and german milchschnitte really do have nothing to do with each other. It seems like milchschnitte also popped up around the 80s, and the Amish origins of the whoopie pie our kind of a folk history, so even that's kind of dubious.

[@raempftl]

The milchschnitte does not look like any traditional German home-backed cake to me. However cakes with, usually, cream fillings between various cake layers are very common. I could well imagine that if you adapt the traditional recipes it’s easy to arrive at something like the pie you described.

[@lydias.3082]

As an over 40years old german woman i want to report that no traditonal german pastry or cake in the style of a "Whopie pie" or "Milchschnitte is known to me. I think this style of cake or pastry would also be a little to sweet to be a tradional german cake.

[@PhiNics]

Milchschnitte was first introduced to Germany by Ferrero in 1978 as a venture into chilled products. As far as I know the Italian version started in 1991/1992. Not sure if Milchschnitte is an Italian invention that was just tested on the German market or a German product that got exported. I'm pretty sure it is a commercial product, not based in any kind of traditional German bakery . It was heavily marketed as a "healthy milk snack for children" which is a bit far fetched for a load of fatty sugar cream between two biscuits. I think the whoopie pie is an invention of the 1920s. I don't know any German baking items that look like it tbh. so I don't think there is a connection there.

[@galebourn]

I'm German as well and I can't think of any traditional cake that comes close. Milchschnitte is Italian and I never heard of Whoopie Pie before.

[@hederahelix4600]

There is a kind of small round chocolate cake with a white filling that I can remember eating as a kid in Germany. It's different to a whoopie pie in that the chocolate goes all the way round but maybe they are related? Google helped me find a very similar cake called "Weberli". It looks a bit different but I might remembering it wrong. Or the version we got at Aldi was just branded differently.

[@ethantoth5770]

Congrats to Andong for consistently having the most original food content on KZbin

[@zhara42]

Great video, and the points you raise about sloppy journalism has me sharing this video with my educator friends. Students who learn writing in today's classroom also need to learn how to be careful consumers of information. THANK YOU ANDONG.

[@vergil8833]

That article only talks about sashimi AKA just sliced raw salmon. Thats something atlantic nations have eaten for ages.

[@PeterLe61]

In Japan at a high class sushi restaurant a Westerner next for me asked why there wasn't any salmon. The chef just laughed.

[@kuebbisch]

And I am always full before my colleagues when we went to a kaiten zushi place on lunch break here in germany. They wait for salmon and thuna, I just grab saba (mackerel), tako (octopus) and unagi (eel). No waiting time, even with 20 people before us on the belt.

[@gewreid5946]

@@kuebbisch Where i'm at in germany right now it's soooo hard/rare to find any sushi other than tuna or salmon (and the occasional shrimp/imitation crab)... The biggest pleasure for me when getting a sushi platter somewhere always used to be the sheer variety of fish and discovering new things i haven't had before. By now i don't even bother anymore and usually go straight for vegetarian sushi instead. There's a lot of very interesting things that can be done with the combination and interplay of different textures and flavours there.

[@kuebbisch]

@@gewreid5946 Yeah, I am also worried, that the places I went to have maybe closed for good. At work we had only a 5 min. walk to either sushi circle hamburg or sushi factory hamburg (google them and look at the pictures at colonnaden, near the city centre. Currently it seems like they have only terrible delivery sushi in different quarters, but no more chain/kaiten restaurant). I know of at least two japanese restaurants that are still open, but expensive, and when you get home it it "meeh", like cheap food was before 2020, bit stale, bit chewy, not crisp as freshly prepared.

[@zeroibis]

@@kuebbisch Issue in the US is a lot of places sub saba for Spanish mackerel which has a totally different flavor and good luck finding sanma. Although there is a place by me that even serves up grilled aji. On the note of things you do not see others order and that is generally hard to find is getting some good futomaki.

[@kuebbisch]

@@zeroibis Yes, it was the same here, I tried many places until I found two that had a bit of special ingredients (and were not high class japanese restaurants). But at least they wrote what was special that day, so no saba every day :-) But sure the run of the mill tuna was yellow fin, blue fin tuna was only sometimes available, so theyalways substituted someting for a cheaper product. But then lunch special with green tea, miso soup and 5 plates from the conveyor was only 9€.

[@lai-ann1410]

It makes me think of a video from Alex French cooking guy, that found out there was a translation mistake about the French Mother sauces! Always great to know where it all comes from and the story behind our food!

[@Josh_Fredman]

The real moral of this story is that fact-checking, something which newspaper journalism has always taken seriously, is something that content creators and entertainers treat as an afterthought. Good fact-checking is one of the key hallmarks of good information.

[@juliostcarvalho]

Really appreciate the honesty and all of your effort to get the story right! You're amazing!!!

[@woodenpints]

Good video. Same thing happened to Tom Scott last year, which he covers in his video "Why You Can't Trust Me".

[@mynameisandong]

He is one of my KZbin role models!! Loved that video of his

[@matthiasheger2107]

Great work, Andong. That looks like quality journalism to me. transparent and well researched.

[@benvasilinda9729]

I’ve eaten sushi in many different parts of the world throughout my long career in the US military and Hawaii was one of the best places I’ve ever eaten sushi. All of the local ingredients that fit so well because of the fresh and local seafood was amazing and made by Japanese Sushi chefs in their own restaurants in Hawaii. I’m back living in Florida and really miss those amazing sushi dishes over in Oahu.

[@Lwize]

I've been eating sushi in Los Angeles since the 1970's. Salmon, tuna and (ok, cooked) shrimp were gateways to try "raw" fish for newbies, as they were very mild and not "fishy" like mackerel. Growing up with lox & bagels also helped. Norway's deal with Japan apparently had no affect on USA salmon sushi consumption.

[@firerocket7343]

So you've been eating salmon sushi since 1970s, before the Japanese? That's impressive.

[@Rakadis]

Well, you have to admit that Norwegian salmon is pretty good... And I am not just saying that because I am Norwegian ;)

[@mynameisandong]

It's great, and Norway is also pretty good at sustainable fishing as far as I know

[@Razid320]

Hello neighbour. As a Finn my point of view is that Norwegian wild salmon is great, but the farmed salmon is very, very low quality and the industry behind it is even worse. Have they made any changes, rules/laws after all the bad publicity they got?

[@Marc-.]

@@Razid320 I was about to say that, the farm condition looks horrible...

[@greenmachine5600]

Alaskan salmon is amazing

[@Wingedshadowwolf]

@@greenmachine5600 Gotta cook 'em though.

[@misterinternational]

Incredibly interesting video and amazing to see how many media companies find one interesting story and essentially re-write it for views without any research.

[@Hackasaures]

Andong proves once again how good of a food journalist he is. Thank you so much for the great video

Keep this level of research up. That is what makes you stand out! (Plus the crazy recipes and experiments.) Patreon well worth it ;-)

[@Jon_East]

I would have loved for you to go into some of the controversial history behind the California Roll, and whether it was indeed invented in California or instead in Vancouver, Canada. Interesting evidence for both cases.

[@raifikarj6698]

Someone also said in the Big Story Video that andong shower in video. It say salmon sushi created in Vancouver, Canada too basically it create another layer of true origin of salmon sushi and basically made this video by andong misleading too like the Norway the creator of salmon sushi

[@TheDankCrew]

Holy crap this makes so much sense - I live in Japan and when I learnt that Japanese people call salmon nigiri サモン (sa-mon) and not さけ (sa-ke, the word for the fish in Japanese), it confused the heck out of me: why would they use the foreign word for a fish so common and integral to 'authentic' Japanese cuisine? But if salmon nigiri was introduced by Norway, back then it would have been considered a foreign dish and a foreign word, hence 'samon' Crazy!

[@6thdim]

Norwegian here. This all makes sense, but the Norwegian word for salmon is laks. Why is it called サーモン and not ラックス

[@6thdim]

Oh my bad I didn’t watch the rest of the vid lol

[@markspyrison9659]

Sushi has been my absolute favorite food for ages. Great video. Informative. Many of us appreciate thorough researchers slash reporters. Due diligence and all that. I'm grateful. You've gained a subscriber. Thanks.

[@BardovBacchus]

"Trust but Verify" I get the idea that if someone pointed out an error you made, you would totally own up to it. That is all the difference

[@gorgorgonzales3090]

Thanks man! Finally somebody who cares about sources.. it's really a problem, especially on youtube, that way to little people provide sources and it's impossible to tell who is tellig bulls**t. Thanks for keeping it real!

[@aquelaquelaquelaquel]

You are a GOD of researching! Love these videos!!

[@mikecook7683]

It’s criminal that you don’t have more subs. The editing, awesome content, integrity! Keep it up buddy you deserve to be one of the big ones!

[@kyebronwyn2980]

Mega respect to you for this one! I'm glad to know there's a KZbinr I can trust for these vids :)

[@naturalcambion3747]

A sushi conspiracy wrap in a mystery and shrouded in a conundrum! I am here for this!

[@sintadwim]

Kudos for your research! Recheck and recheck is a rare thing these days. Really appreciate your team's efforts to make this video!

[@ezradja]

Fermented rice and fish was actually South East Asian, then came to Japan as a new way to preserved foods. This fact was acknowledge by Japanese themselves. South Sumatera, Indonesia, Vietnamese and many more cuisine was rice fermented with fishes.

[@xuedalong]

I read that it originated in guizhou, which was on the trail that japanese monks used to travel to and from Tibet.

[@Ridhostarr]

andong. you are a man with high integrity. youtube viewers deserve more of you. thank you for your effort to these quality content!

[@pd4954]

The USA was not the country that brought you the California roll Salmon was in Sushi in 1974 here in Vancouver Canada, from Hidekazu Tojo,the inventor of the BC Roll and the inventor of the California Roll en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hidekazu_Tojo en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B.C._roll

[@sureafraid]

Man I love how thorough his investigation is, it’s so fascinating to watch!

[@theclownofclowns]

Andong, your videos are so excellent! Best food writing on KZbin imo

[@kariforuniajin]

This is easily, one of your best videos to date.

[@nekodromeda]

I was prepared to feel vaguely smug (since I also heard that Planet Money story) but my mind was blown. So many kudos for your transparency and intellectual honesty about your research.

[@asemic]

i loved your bit on journalism near the end~ love !!

[@Jonathan_Hitchcock]

Really standup job to include the new article and completely reformat your video around it. You’re a true inspiration for content integrity Andong!

[@be2Gee]

As a Norwegian this is an odd claim knowing that Norwegian salmon was introduced to Thailand at least in the 60's (if not before), where Norwegian Salmon sushi soon became a rare sushi dish for the wealthy instead of the "poorman's" "sushi" farmer's was used to eat around the Mekong River (Thailand, Laos and Vietnam) where "sushi" originated around 500 BC. I ate Norwegian salmon sushi for the first time in the early 80's when I first arrived in Thailand, where I still live. While it was far from as popular as it is today, it was expensive, but it was there nonetheless and it was very similar to today's Salmon sushi, and clearly looked like Japanese sushi rather than Thai "sushi" which was packed or at least rolled in banana tree leaves. Probably first made or sold by some Japanese visitors or Thais who had been in Japan. The 80's isn't when Norway first began exporting Salmon (nor to Japan). The 80's was when Norway's seafood export exploded worldwide and when Salmon Sushi became popularized, especially in Japan. The 80's is considered the beginning of the golden era for Norway's seafood industry. Norway actually began trading Salmon, dried fish and other seafood already in the early year 1000's, in the Viking era, mainly to Europe. Rice was introduced to Norway in the 1300's and was mainly used for rice porridge for the wealthy, however fish was also used with rice. Unknown whether it was raw fish or how it was eaten, but it was an exclusive dish more or less until potatoes arrived in the 1700's.

[@mngspoon3121]

Seriously, amazing research. Thank you for all the effort you put into giving us the best accuracy, Andong!

[@Berkana]

Andong, I respect you so much for how honest you are in this video, and your high standard, insisting on not spreading food myths. Keep it up!

[@MrSierraBravo]

Background stories are always exciting, pls more of that :)

[@bioluminosity]

I just saw a video about Funazushi (the original sushi, fermented fish) a few days ago, I love the comprehensive info in your video tho!

[@daviddavidson1355]

Andong has more journalistic integrity in a video about salmon than a lot of news organizations do when they're talking about major global events....

[@lwolfstar7618]

Just more reason I love Andong so much, this level of integrity is so rare these days!

[@seanhochman]

i am always impressed by your production quality. really good stuff!

[@Isomoar]

Damn you do more research than any news outlet in the UK! Which is any amount of research! 😂 But on a serious note great episode, very interesting indeed!

[@thozogg]

I was a busboy in a Japanese restaurant when I was in my teens. At the end of the night we had an all you can eat sushi feast.

[@PovlKvols]

Thank you for sharing, Andong. Keep up the good work, I thoroughly enjoy your videos!

[@TrevorTargaryen]

Thank you for doing a deep dive on this! This is great!

[@CH-oe5ei]

Amazing that a German speak better English than Americans. I greatly appreciate the complete void of fillers such as 'you know', 'ah', 'like', 'um'. Thank you for putting out great videos!

[@michelhv]

THIS JUST IN: internet media don’t check their sources. Sports at ten.

[@zeroibis]

I do not think it is limited to the internet lol.

[@capt_hapa]

started as sushi video, ended as video about fact checking and misconceptions in journalism. what a ride I LOVE IT

[@shumeister1059]

Great job Andong, your research is amazing! I like the story within the story.

[@irahryphson8879]

Any time history of Japan comes up, it's always weirdly divorced from history in a global sense. Which seems to lead to a bunch of confusion for things like where and when things started.

[@MrVovansim]

Woah, that's informative and interesting. Wish you'd had time to follow the nyt lead on salmon sushi in the us in the 70's, but it's well understood that times and budgets are not unlimited.

[@-AmirulNaim]

this video is actually legendary tier on so many levels. kudos!

[@peraltarockets]

I really appreciate you're doing the work and the research. And I look forward to the video on your Patreon.

[@srpskihayk]

A lot of Japanese "staples" are imported. Those custard tarts that are all the rage in East Asia, particularly Taiwan, that are thought to be from Japan are actually from Portugal. The cross-topped bread (more like checked-topped bread) and other types supposedly from Japan, was imported by the Portuguese. I have never seen a Japanese restaurant, or even an episode of the original Iron Chef that did not serve up tempura. Guess what? Portuguese. Even Japan's second most popular item, ramen, is from China.

[@escaloz]

"checked-topped bread" Melon pan ? Pretty sure it's Japanese, we haven't anything close to that in Portugal. The closest have seen in Europe is Beligium/Nederlands tiger bread

[@mynameisandong]

That's sort of true but also a bit reductive. The origins of what became Ramen are clearly Chinese, but today's Ramen culture really is it's own thing. It's like saying Hamburgers aren't American because the first bakers were German or something :D

[@srpskihayk]

@@mynameisandong I see your point, and it is a good one. I guess you could say the same about pizza, tacos, and even Chinese food. They come from something else, but have developed into their own thing in the US. Also, the ramen served in Taiwan is Japanese-style if there is a thing. And yes, I know about the history of Japan and Taiwan.

[@srpskihayk]

@@escaloz I will admit defeat on this one. I remember seeing something about a particular bread in Japan actually being Portuguese. On this note, the Melon pan, according to wikipedia (never a source, but a launching pad) it was created by an Armenian. So, take from that what you will.

[@escaloz]

@@srpskihayk Well, we brought a type of wheat bread to Japan. But with the Sakoku period, most of our ways where lost and modern japanese bread have more to do with american white bread than portuguese all wheat bread (even portuguese bread evolved a lot between the XVIth century and today). So it's manly words that stayed and not the foods. Same thing with Castella cake. It's a type of Conventional cake (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conventual_sweets) often common between Portugal and Spain and brought to Asia trough Portuguese, Spanish and French Jesuits. So we can't really say it's either of Portuguese or Spanish origin

[@fiveoctaves]

Interesting. I grew up in Los Angeles eating salmon sushi so I was not misled by the story of Japan's (re)introduction to salmon by Norway's marketing. It hadn't dawned on me that others believed that was the beginning of salmon sushi across the globe. Thank you for doing this video!

[@teijaflink2226]

So salmon sushi was created in the US?

[@BS-bv5sh]

Appreciate that you questioned instead of pushing forward to publish the planned video. Also I love the flammkuche recipe. I use it all the time.

[@Daveomabegin]

You're such a good and honest video blogger. Thank you so much for sharing this. 😊😊👍🏻

[@jeppewerring]

5:53 the nigiri piece in the middle is the saddest peice of nigiri I have ever seen. And after this video I'm now a sad Norwegian :(

[@jacobridle7151]

Yooo I remember listening to planet money when that episode originally came out and I thought it was crazy because I always thought salmon was the default sushi fish

[@BrynHiggins]

Good for you. I appreciate honest storytelling.

[@dovemenpluscare4974]

Gotta appreciate the hard work and time put into actual research. Thumbs up from me my dude.

[@gaiabravo]

I'd love to see you do a collab with Max Miller of Tasting History

[@arpad9]

To me, eating sushi, especially here in Europe, is an environmental challenge. For one, it's likely that your fish travels across the globe to get to you. For another, it's likely to be unsustainably procured fish (farmed or fished). This is a real downer, because I love sushi; but I also love the idea of preserving our oceans and our air for the future.

[@kolyaolivier7976]

That's a problem everywhere.... Just ask where it comes from

[@arpad9]

@@kolyaolivier7976 Have you tried asking where the fish comes from in a sushi restaurant? From your answer, I'll bet you haven't. But furthermore, even the few restaurants that know or will tell you, they don't know that much. The Norwegian and Scottish salmon farming industries have been plagued by contaminating the oceans. If you do a search, your top results will be Norwegian fish industry public relations, but the truth is more complicated. The only sure source of salmon right now, is the U.S. Pacific Northwest but that's too far from Central Europe to be a viable, sustainable source. So it isn't a problem everywhere. If I were in Seattle, it wouldn't be a problem. We're literally and rapidly killing the oceans. It is, in fact, an environmental challenge to eat salmon in Europe. For my part, I try to limit my fish consumption to freshwater fish, farmed locally in tanks isolated from the environment. I do break that rule, but I try to keep it on the rare side. It's important to be conscious about WTF you're eating. www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-48266480 www.seafoodwatch.org/recommendations/search?query=%3Aspecies%3BSanddab%2CSalmon%3Agroup%3BSalmon

[@kolyaolivier7976]

@mathieu I make it a point to always know where my ask where my fish comes from. But I understand that some people don't see the point of eating quality food so I'm not expecting you to make an effort. What country are you from? I'm sure there's a reliable supplier somewhere close to you

[@arpad9]

@@kolyaolivier7976 You're rapidly becoming a rabbit hole of unreason. My "effort" is NOT to eat fish where I can't be sure of the source. I recognize that there are some foods that can't be eaten in some places in the world while still being sustainable. To think that restaurants all know exactly where their fish comes from is naive and inexperienced, especially sushi restaurants. There isn't any salmon within 1,000 miles of where I live. That pretty much takes it off the menu, even if it were guaranteed to be sourced sustainably, which Norwegian salmon is NOT, unless it's farmed in recirculating tanks or from the Skjerstad Fjord in marine net pens. Your sushi place has this information?? That would be cool... and improbable. You can't have anything you want from anywhere in the world anytime your want and not damage the world. Sorry. Look into the links I posted and please do better. Thanks.

[@johnny39302]

Love this! Especially the part about the typo!

[@MrMegaManFan]

I only recently discovered this channel and videos like this and “doctor sausage” are why I’m a fan. Keep up the good work!

[@jasonparrish8670]

I remember hearing the "outrage" when the new San Diego Petco (Padres) Park was opened up in 2004 and all the sports commentators were clutching their pearls that Sushi was being offered, in addition to the usual garbage hotdogs and hamburgers. In typical passive racism, it was all about losing the 'tradition' of the sport for general-price spectators to eat lousy food, while the masters of the universe were in their skyboxes being personally catered.

[@nathankoon7749]

lol we're talking about san diego here. casual racism is rampant

[@davidjoelsson4929]

You people dont even know what racism means

[@nathankoon7749]

@@davidjoelsson4929 what does racism mean

[@davidjoelsson4929]

@@nathankoon7749 that you consinder other humans of color abnormal or less human

[@michaelmcdermed841]

you said america is the place that brought us the california roll, but a Japanese chef from Vancouver claims he invented the roll in the 70s.

[@SatanicDesolation]

Thanks for being genuine and honest

[@davids3477]

really cool video.. always good to check the sources.. thanks!