Americans Eat This One Food Completely Wrong

Sushi is a combination of cold rice seasoned with rice vinegar, sugar, and salt that's topped or rolled with raw or cooked seafood and vegetables. While the California roll is one of the most popular options in the nation, many kinds of sushi exist, including spicy tuna rolls, avocado rolls, and Philadelphia rolls. If you enjoy eating sushi, you're probably guilty of eating it wrong.

According to IbisWorld's industry market research, sushi restaurant growth has been steady at just under 4% per year since 2018. Americans love sushi. Despite its popularity, Americans eat sushi all wrong. Learn the traditional way to eat this dish.

This post was updated June 22nd, 2025, to reflect additional information.

The earliest form of sushi goes back more than 800 years. Narezushi involves the use of fermented rice to preserve fish. Rice-filled salted mackerel was wrapped in reed leaves for upwards of a month. During this time, the rice fermented. The fish and fermented rice were eaten together with ginger and sake for harvest festivals. Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries shares a modern recipe for narezushi.

Sushi didn't arrive in the U.S. until the 1900s. It was quickly gaining popularity until Pearl Harbor happened. Anti-Japanese sentiment took sushi from the limelight. It would take until the mid-1960s for the nation's first true sushi restaurant to open. Los Angeles' Kawafuku sold sushi made with local seafood like abalone, mackerel, and tuna. Another original sushi restaurant opened soon after and introduced California rolls when seasonal tuna was unavailable. It was also a great option for people who didn't want to eat sushi made with raw fish. Instead, the chef used king crab.

Both Americanized sushi and Japanese sushi use cold rice that's seasoned with vinegar, with vegetables, dried sheets of edible seaweed known as nori, and meat or seafood. Japanese sushi is typically simple with rice, nori, and raw seafood. Flavors aren't meant to overpower. Americans tend to add more to their sushi, such as cream cheese (Philly roll), shrimp tempura, mayonnaise, and fried chicken, which can overpower the flavors of nori or fish.

When you order sushi in Japan or the U.S., wasabi, soy sauce, and pickled ginger come with it. Those three items are simple additions, and that's where Americans start to eat sushi incorrectly.

If you use a fork and knife to cut your sushi into smaller pieces, you're wrong. Sushi is a finger food. Pick it up and eat the entire piece in one bite. The only time a knife is used is when a chef slices a sushi roll into individual pieces.

Sushi is meant to be eaten with your fingers. If you don't want messy hands, it's acceptable to use chopsticks. However, most sushi restaurants provide a damp towel to clean your hands. A fork isn't appropriate.

When you pick up your sushi, turn it upside down and quickly dip the fish side into soy sauce. You're not soaking the rice or getting a lot of sushi on the piece. If you have ordered something like a California roll, dab soy sauce onto the roll. You do not want the saltiness to overpower the delicate flavors of the fish and nori.

The pickled ginger is there to cleanse your palate between each piece of sushi. Don't place it on top, even if it tastes great that way.

If you want more wasabi on your sushi, use chopsticks to add a small amount to the center of the sushi. Before you do, check to see if the chef added a small amount or if the sushi touched the wasabi on the plate. Wasabi is meant to complement the flavor not overpower it. While it's custom in America to stir wasabi into the soy sauce, that's not traditional.

If you used chopsticks and are done eating, place them flat on your plate parallel to your seat. Don't cross them. Never stand them up in a bowl of rice. Standing them vertically too closely resembles the burning of incense in rice, which is a practice reserved for funerals.

Sake is popular in Japanese restaurants, but it's made from rice. It's not meant to be consumed with sushi. Instead, enjoy it after the sushi. Japanese tea is a better drink to have with sushi.