I cannot eat raw fish such as sashimi or sushi.
However, when it comes to slightly more upscale meals such as at company drinking parties or inns, sashimi is the answer.
It’s okay to reluctantly participate in a forced drinking party, but it’s hard not being able to eat anything. I feel like I’m missing out on a special trip by skipping the hotel’s signature dinner.
If you put tuna sashimi in your mouth, you’ll vomit. I can’t eat more than half of the sushi. At Japanese-style inns, children may skip lunch or dinner.
The author, who hates raw fish, will introduce five steps to becoming able to eat sushi.
Sashimi is disgusting.
I can’t eat raw fish.
I’ve always disliked raw fish such as sashimi, but when I was in elementary school, I ate a beautiful red tuna at a relative’s house and when I put it in my mouth, I threw it up.
Everyone said it was delicious, but to me it felt disgusting, like I was eating someone’s tongue.
Since then, I have been avoiding it due to trauma.
Do I need to overcome my dislike of raw fish and sashimi?
In the first place, is it necessary to overcome a dislike of raw fish?
If you can avoid raw fish and sashimi, you don’t have to overcome your dislike of raw fish.
When I was a kid, I could leave the sashimi alone.
When I was a child, my parents grilled the fish for me.
When I was a kid, it was okay to have kids lunch.
However, I’m sure that many of you reading this article are suffering because of your dislike of raw fish.
Forced to participate in drinking parties as an adult
Now that I’m an adult, they don’t grill fish at drinking parties.
As an adult, you can be made to eat sashimi.
It’s awkward not being able to eat as an adult.
If you are suffering from a dislike of raw fish, you should aim to overcome your dislike, little by little.
Let’s do our best little by little.
[Step 1] Find sashimi that you can barely eat
It’s hard to go without eating at a Japanese food party, such as a mandatory drinking party. So let’s use the compulsory Japanese cuisine as a training ground to overcome your dislike of raw fish.
First of all, it’s OK if you can swallow it without vomiting.
Eating red meat sashimi such as tuna can be quite painful, but try swallowing it with water or alcohol. That’s OK.
However, the first raw fish you eat should be white fish such as sea bream or squid. I recommend it because it doesn’t feel as disgusting as eating human flesh, it just doesn’t taste good, and it was relatively easy to eat.
[Step 2] Realize that there are foods that are delicious even raw
Once you’ve managed to swallow it, try finding something that tastes delicious even though it’s raw, and build up your courage.
Recommended is the salmon carpaccio.
Raw fish has a sticky texture and a bloody smell that is disgusting, isn’t it? I really don’t like that feel and red taste.
However, carpaccio has less unpleasant elasticity and red flavor. Especially salmon!
When made into carpaccio, the meat becomes firm and firm. Thanks to the vinegar and onions, the smell of blood can be suppressed. You can eat this!
Other than the carpaccio, the salmon marinated in salted malt was easy to eat. As expected, salmon is good.
Let’s have some courage now.
[Step 3] Let’s eat it with sweet sauce
Once you’ve started eating more raw fish, such as salmon carpaccio, next time go to conveyor belt sushi and try white fish such as sea bream with sweet sauce.
Sashimi with soy sauce that I ate at drinking parties or at izakaya bars was salty, fishy, and unpleasant, but sushi with sweet sauce is much easier to eat because the taste of the sweet sauce drowns out most of the taste!
Will that help me overcome my dislike of sashimi?
You might think so, but it’s OK!
My confidence that “I can eat sushi as long as it’s sweet and sour!” reduced my fear of raw fish and brought me a big step closer to overcoming my fear of eating raw fish.
Well, we’re almost there!
[Step 4] Eat delicious sashimi while traveling
This is the end of this long battle.
When you encounter truly delicious sashimi, you will be surprised and moved, and you will lose your reluctance to eat raw fish.
The dinner (buffet) at the hotel “REX HOTEL Beppu” in Beppu City, Oita Prefecture, which I previously introduced in this article, included the Saeki yellowtail shabu course.
Normally, I would have thought, This is an unnecessary service,” but at this hotel, I was impressed by the many things leading up to dinner, and I thought,I wonder if this hotel can impress me with the sashimi, too?” That’s what I expected.
So I tried it.
Even though it’s sashimi, it’s delicious! Squid, sea bream, and Saeki yellowtail for shabu-shabu are all delicious!
I was a little scared of tuna, so I tried eating it with lots of wasabi on top, and it was even more delicious.
It’s impossible for sashimi to be delicious. But it’s delicious. why? That’s what I thought, so I seriously considered it.
・bad sashimi
Soggy and elastic texture
Fishy smell
It has a blood-red taste.
Add plenty of soy sauce to remove the taste
Very salty
・Delicious sashimi from Beppu City, Oita Prefecture
Firm and firm texture
No fishy odor or blood taste
I feel so sweet
The soy sauce is delicious with dashi and citrus.
Now, take home some dashi soy sauce and kabosu soy sauce as souvenirs…!
[Step 5] Replace soy sauce with dashi soy sauce and try conveyor belt sushi! ️
Did you eat it because it was delicious sashimi? Or maybe you were able to overcome your dislike of raw fish! ?
At the conveyor belt sushi chain restaurant “Hama Sushi”
Sea bream…mumbled with dashi soy sauce
Squid…mumbled with dashi and soy sauce
Yellowtail…mumbled with dashi soy sauce and black pepper
Tuna…mumbled with dashi soy sauce and wasabi
Green onion…Mix kabosu and sweet sauce.
Salmon…mumbled with dashi and soy sauce
Squid okra…mumbled with dashi and soy sauce
Mumble… mumble…
good! ️ Delicious!! ️ Delicious!! ️
Now you can eat sushi! ! I was able to overcome my dislike of raw fish and sashimi.
Even if you don’t like it at first, you’ll be able to eat it! ️
From the above, it is possible to overcome your dislike of raw fish! ️
Even though I hate raw fish and used to throw up when eating tuna sashimi, I can now enjoy sushi freely.
・Swallowing sashimi by force
・Try the salmon carpaccio
・Try adding sweet sauce
・Be impressed by the sashimi at a super delicious hotel
・Try various things at conveyor belt sushi
I hope this will be helpful to those who are worried about their dislike of raw fish and sashimi. I hope someday I will be able to share the deliciousness with those around me.
