Tea and Sushi

Nothing goes better with sushi than a good cup of green tea, particulary Gen Mai Cha (one of many spellings). Gen Mai Cha was designed with sushi in mind, and is green tea with toasted brown rice. It is supposed to help with digestion.

But, tea may be more closely linked with sushi than even that. A recent article in the Washington Post discusses the shortage of sushi chefs in the United States. This shortage has meant that sushi bars and restaurants have been forced to hire non-Japanese sushi chefs. However, many sushi chefs are against this practice, such as Yoshi Itoh who runs a very traditional Japanese restaurant. He said he would "not even consider teaching someone to prepare sushi until the student had spent at least four years mastering the intricacies of the centuries-old Japanese tea ceremony--whose manners and aesthetic lie at the heart of all Japanese cooking."

So there you have it: tea is the heart of all Japanese cooking.