Sushi makes you want to eat it all the time.
In my family, everyone in my family loves sushi, so we go to a sushi restaurant once a month, but when I see how well French people use chopsticks to eat sushi, I think sushi has become part of the French diet. I feel deeply that I did it.
Japanese sushi culture has spread overseas. Although the sushi culture is slightly different from that of Japan, each country has its own unique sushi culture.
This time, we will talk about the sushi situation overseas. What about France, Europe’s largest sushi consumer? I will tell you.
Sushi is popular overseas, and the sushi situation in France
The first time I went to Bon Marché (a high-end department store) in Paris, the price for one thin cucumber roll was 4 euros (approximately 600 yen at the exchange rate!!). I remember it like that,
What’s going on with the sushi situation in France?
France is Europe’s largest sushi consumer
I started living in France in 2008. It happened when I decided to eat sushi in Paris and went to a popular sushi chain.
Since it was a Saturday night, the restaurant was packed with customers. There were rows of French people lined up along the wall of the store waiting for their turn to be seated.
I remember being surprised to see so many customers flocking to a conveyor belt sushi restaurant where a dish costs 4 or 5 euros (approximately 480 to 600 yen), and thinking, “This is the sushi bubble!”
Japanese restaurants started popping up in France one by one in the late 1990s. Of course there were Japanese restaurants in Paris, but they were very rare outside of Paris. After that, the sushi market began to expand rapidly, and in 2013, France became Europe’s largest sushi consumer.
In 2015, 1,500 sushi restaurants were open in France, and 22% of French people eat sushi once a month.
A sushi demonstration stand has been set up in the supermarket corner.
Previously, packaged sushi was only sold in the food section of some high-end department stores, but since then it has started to be sold in large supermarkets one after another, and by 2020, it can be found in most large stores.
Sushi has become more familiar to French people as it has become easier to buy sushi at supermarkets, and in recent years, “sushi demonstration stands” have been set up one after another.
It’s a demonstration sale, so someone is making the sushi inside, but as you can see from the photo above, it’s clearly people from Southeast Asia who are not Japanese.
They make sushi in a small space, and at a nearby Carrefour, I saw seven people in the same space as above, and they were busy making sushi in silence. .
In addition to finished sushi, we also sell sushi-related products such as rice, sushi vinegar, Japanese beer, soy sauce, and wasabi at relatively high prices.
France’s sushi bubble has already settled down
It’s been more than a decade since the sushi boom started in France, but the sushi bubble has actually been calming down for quite some time.
When I was in a region of France in 2009, sushi was so popular all over the country that if I ate sushi for lunch, people would say, “You’re in fashion!” I remember talking to a Japanese chef about how the sushi bubble will continue for another 10 years.
It’s true that at that time, there were many people who went to Japanese restaurants to try out some food, and the restaurant was crowded with customers.
As of 2020, the percentage of French people who eat Japanese food is around 50%.
Since France didn’t have the custom of eating raw fish, many people, especially the elderly, are reluctant to eat sushi, and unless you’re a fan of Japan, you don’t have many opportunities to go to Japanese restaurants.
In fact, the age group in which sushi is a regular part of their daily diet is the younger generation, between the ages of 20 and 34, who live in or near Paris. Some people in this generation eat sushi several times a week.
The latest trend is that you don’t have to go out of your way to eat sushi at the supermarket. Lunch is take-out sushi. The number of these customers is increasing, and while sales at supermarkets are strong, sales at restaurants are declining.
Although sushi is still a popular food and in demand,
Running a sushi restaurant is profitable!
This was said to be a long time ago, and now in France, where the sushi boom has calmed down,
Due to this, many sushi restaurants are facing difficult business conditions.
90% of French sushi restaurants are Chinese-owned
What surprises me when I go overseas is that there are quite a few people who don’t know whether sushi originates from Japan or China.
When the coronavirus first spread, a Japanese restaurant was attacked in France, and I thought to myself, “This culprit didn’t know that sushi was made in Japan.”
The restaurant that was damaged was apparently a Japanese restaurant run by Chinese people, as I saw on the news, so I don’t know if the culprit did it knowingly or if it was a coincidence.
90% of sushi restaurants in France are run by Chinese people.
By the way, there are eight restaurants that serve sushi in the town where I live, but they are all owned by Chinese people, and there are no Japanese employees.
If you are Japanese, you can tell right away that a restaurant is not run by a Japanese person by looking at its exterior and menu, but for French people, which restaurants are run by Chinese people? Is it Japanese-run? I can’t judge.
How Chinese business owners were able to ride the French sushi boom
According to a person who has been in the restaurant business in France for a long time, around the year 2000, a hidden camera filmed the sanitary conditions at a Chinese restaurant run by a Chinese man and was broadcast to all of France. .
The dumplings served at the restaurant are actually made at home, and the food is left on the floor. Pick up the food and serve it to the customers. It seems like the content was like this…
Immediately after this broadcast aired nationwide, no one went to Chinese restaurants anymore due to the level of filth, and business became difficult.
At that time, there were whispers that a sushi boom was coming.
Chinese business owners quickly pivoted to sushi, and when the timing was right, they were able to capitalize on the sushi bubble.
He said.
The Chinese people I actually know are
I’m in my 20s and have three restaurants in Paris.
At his first store, he was running a sushi restaurant, but the purchase price of sushi toppings rose and he realized that he could no longer make money from sushi. After that, he started a shop specializing in noodles with low cost.
It turned out to be a big hit and I quickly moved to my third store.
It’s not a question of what genre of cuisine you want to cook, but rather, what type of cuisine will make you money? Since we are working on this, we are not picky about it and can quickly identify it.
The courage to let go of what you have worked so hard for without spoiling it. The strength of the Chinese people is their ability to read the trends of the times and take on new genres, and I think that is why they were able to ride the wave of the sushi bubble.
Ranking of things I ate during the lockdown. Sushi is also ranked!
By the way, sushi is still very popular in France.
According to Ifop’s research results, during the period when restaurants were closed due to restrictions on going out due to the coronavirus,
What did you want to eat the most?
The ranking was announced.
▼Ranking of the things I ate during the lockdown. Sushi is also ranked!
By the way, the dishes that I wanted to eat as much as sushi and had the same points were:
Tartare, fries, and choucroute.
Both are essential French dishes, and sushi also received the same points.
Common knowledge about sushi in France, in the case of a certain popular sushi restaurant
Japan is the birthplace of sushi, so we’ll introduce you to some common knowledge about French sushi that is a little different from Japan.
Popular sushi ingredients: salmon, tuna, sea bream, and shrimp
Popular sushi toppings include salmon, tuna, sea bream, and shrimp. Generally speaking, these four ingredients are the most popular, and simple ones like cucumber rolls are also popular.
80% of customers order a sushi set that contains at least half salmon.
Especially for lunch, many sushi restaurants prepare Sushi Nigiri Set” orNigiri and Maki Set,” but among the four mainstream toppings I introduced earlier, this one is the most popular. It is said that 80% of customers buy a set menu with salmon as the main dish.
I’m not used to raw squid yet.
Although squid sushi is available on the individual menu, it is still a difficult dish for many French people.
There are conveyor belt sushi restaurants overseas as well.
There are conveyor belt sushi restaurants overseas too!
In Japan, many people avoid letting small children sit next to the sushi lane, while in France, conveyor belt sushi is a rarity, so children sit next to the sushi lane.
Some children seem to make a lot of noise when they eat, and you might think they are restless, but no matter how small the child is, they sit quietly and calmly and do not make any noise while eating.
When I go to conveyor belt sushi restaurants, I am often surprised by the eating manners of French children.
Sushi rolls are popular overseas. Rich variety and delicious
The popular sushi roll, reverse-rolled version, is re-imported from overseas. It’s also popular in Japan.
I see a lot of sushi rolls in Japan, so it’s not that rare to find cream cheese in them or fried onions, but the choice of ingredients is unusual.
The unusual roll I ate recently was a tempura sushi roll.
In other countries, sushi rolls are often deep-fried, and they are also delicious.
The basic set is sushi, yakitori, rice, and sweet soy sauce.
At French sushi restaurants, you can also eat yakitori.
The reason for this is that some people in France cannot eat raw fish, so they prepare yakitori instead.
When we assume a group of customers, if even one person doesn’t like sashimi or sushi, they won’t be able to go to a sushi restaurant, so we’re expanding the menu.
And for Chinese people, the sushi and yakitori set menu comes with white rice.
At first, why white rice (lol) and why yakitori (lol)?
I was smiling bitterly every time, but getting used to it is a scary thing, and this set menu has become a habit. When I go to a sushi restaurant in my neighborhood, I usually have this menu + white rice. And like the French do, they eat it with sweet soy sauce drizzled over the rice.
This has become a habit and I am addicted to it.
There are some sushi that I personally do not accept.
In France, after thinking through new products, strange sushi is still alive and well.
I can eat anything, so I’ll try anything that looks delicious.
Single item menus at restaurants you often go to 「Salmon and spinach tartare」There is a sushi called
Why did you add spinach? Why is spinach mixed in?
There are some gems that we simply cannot accept due to their combination and appearance.
Sushi chains overseas are also starting to serve authentic sushi.
While there are some unique types of sushi, sushi chain restaurants also offer sushi that Japanese people like.
A combination of squid and shiso leaves, seared Thai and yuzu sauce, etc.
Authentic sushi, which previously did not exist in France, is now available from French sushi chains.
Tea is charged
Tea, which can be ordered for free in Japan, has to be paid overseas.
It sells for about 3 euros.
end
Sushi situation in France.
- Customers are flocking to sushi sold at supermarkets.
- The sushi bubble has burst
- Purchasing prices have also increased due to rising prices
For these reasons, the number of restaurants has decreased compared to at one time.
However, two-thirds of France’s sushi restaurants are concentrated in Paris and its suburbs, and many people regularly eat sushi, so it is still a competitive area.
The sushi you eat in France varies depending on the day, with the sushi being larger or smaller and the toppings being delicious, but salmon has a consistent taste and is always delicious.
By the way, the sushi photo I pulled from Instagram is from a sushi chain called MATSURI. The Marbeuf store is delicious because the person in charge is a Frenchman who used to run a restaurant in Japan.
