Kirt:
>>This just isn't true. Much of the sashimi served in even very foo-foo
>>Japanese resturants is thawed; some of it is boiled (like octopus). Tuna,
>>(farmed) yellowtail (called hamachi), and salmon are very often found
>>thawed. These fish freeze and thaw pretty well, holding their texture
>>better than most.

Peter:
>Maybe freezing was less common a couple of decades ago when Dosowitz did
>most of his research. This does not seem a far stretch since I understand
>there is a quite a taste difference between fish, raw fresh and thawed fish.

There is a difference for sure but some fish handle thawing better than
others. You're probably right that freezing was less common in the past.

>>Thus for a sushi bar to serve hamachi outside of Japan it is almost always
>>from thawed fillets. If fresh tuna and/or salmon are unavailable frozen
>>sashimi fish are imported from Japan (in the ritziest Japanese resturants)
>>and the price is sky high. Strangely, I have seen Japanese tourists in
>>several countries eshew the local fresh sashimi fish and choose much more
>>expensive imported and thawed tuna, hamachi, and salmon.

>Could the standards for sushi bars be lower outside of Japan, could they
>have been influenced by foreign fears of parasites or could they just be
>nostalgic for fish from their homeland? I somehow doubt that original sushi
>bars in Japan would serve frozen fish but what do I know? :-)

Clearly Japanese resturants in other countries may be "suspect" and I have
never been to Japan so I can't comment about theri level of purity.
Nevertheless, I imagine there is a great range of sashimi available in
Japan and at many different price/quality levels. Your author may be
overgeneralizing about thawed fish. But...sashimi standards seem to fall
lower every year. Even "imitation crab sticks" are appearing in more and
more sushi counters and not just at more casual sushi places, but at
resturants claiming to be authentic (and with prices to match).

It was a minor quibble in an otherwise informative article, but it seemed
so blatant that I was moved to comment...;)

Perhaps he was right on during the time he wrote--don't know.

Cheers,
Kirt