California Roll (1981)

[Laurence Horn]

At 2:56 AM -0400 6/16/05, bapopik at AOL.COM wrote:
>News for you; War between the states
>Christine Winter. Chicago Tribune (1963-Current file). Chicago,
>Ill.: Nov 23, 1981. p. F2 (1 page) :
>...
>_A real international exchange_
>...
>The Japanese have given us sushi, and we're bringing them the
>California avocado. That seems like a fair enough exchange, but one
>international restaurateur is going a step further and combining
>both into one unusual dish. According to Produce News, sushi bars
>[the traditional sushi is a seasoned rice, fish, and vegetable
>combination] are really catching on in West Coast restaurants. New
>Japanese restaurant owner Mike Horikawa, who has several locations
>in Southern California and quite a few more in Japan, has given
>sushi a new twist by inventing the California Roll to add to his
>array of popular dishes. It's a sheet of dried seaweed covered with
>cooked, cooled, Japanese-style rice, which has been seasoned with
>rice-wine vinegar, salt, and sugar. The whole thing is turned
>upside-down so the rice is on the bottom, and a slice of California
>avocado, bits of cooked, chilled crabmeat, and two slices of
>cucumber are placed in the center of the seaweed. Then the whole
>concoction i!
>  s rolled up, sprinkled iwth sesame seeds, and cut into rounds. This
>new addition to the age-old sushi recipe is so popular in Southern
>California that this Americanized version is being introduced in
>Japanese restaurants, although the avocado still is considered
>pretty exotic in the Orient.

Well, at least the avocado in California rolls is still real.  The
"crabmeat" is usually imitation, though (crab-colored pollock or
whatever).  American ingenuity!

L