For the Love of Sushi

Like many young children, I was a fussy eater early in life. I wanted plain pasta, burgers, pizza...all the things kids typically want to eat instead of healthy fruits, vegetables and meat. That began to change when my mother began working and attending school in New York City, where many different types of food were available to eat compared to the country small town where I was growing up. My mother began taking me on special occasions to Japanese restaurants when I was only perhaps 9 or 10 years old, and I soon fell in love with the food. While of course I began with "easy" meals like fried tempura and teriyaki, soon I was trying more exotic items like hand rolls, tuna maki and salmon nigiri. As a child I enjoyed the pretty arrangements of the sushi, and also how delighted the staff at these restaurants seemed to be that such a young "Western" child was so interested in trying Japanese food. We also began cooking Japanese food at home, although without a quality fish market in the area, sushi remained a treat for "evenings out" at one of our favorite sushi restaurants.

Is sushi a good option for those trying to lose weight and eat healthy? If you are talking about traditional Japanese sushi, the answer is often yes. Simple nigiri and traditional maki rolls are quite nutritious and low in calories - and many Japanese restaurants offer you the option of brown rice instead of white rice for added fiber and nutritious content. A typical California roll, for example, contains about 255 calories and 7 grams of fat. Most piece of nigiri sushi contain 40-65 calories per piece. So it is very easy to make a healthy, low calorie meal from a maki roll and several pieces of nigiri, or perhaps two rolls.

However, fancier, "Americanized" rolls have become increasingly popular, perhaps as a way to lure people into eating sushi who might be uncomfortable with the concept of raw fish and seaweed. Rolls containing fried tempura pieces - or where the entire roll is battered and fried like tempura - are increasingly popular, as are those drowned in sweet or mayonnaise-based sauces, or featuring ingredients like cream cheese and colored soy paper instead of nori. Such rolls pack in much heavier caloric values - a shrimp tempura roll, or tempura eel and avocado roll, is approximately 500 calories with 21 grams of fat. While such rolls can be tasty treats, someone watching their weight should be careful about what kinds of sushi they order and avoid such heavy, fried sushi items.

The Sushi FAQ's Sushi Calories and Nutritional Information Chart provides the data on many basic, traditional types of rolls and nigiri sushi, and My Fitness Pal's Sushi Nutrition Guide has a wide range of generic and restaurant-specific sushi items covered, including many fancy rolls. Do some research so you can plan what kind of sushi you wish to enjoy to stay within your nutritional, dietary goals.

Many Japanese restaurants looking to bring in business offer "All-You-Can-Eat" sushi menus, some only on specific days or nights, others every night. While the "All-You-Can-Eat" gimmick certainly appeals to many American diners' preference for quantity and large portions, does the "quality" measure up to regular sushi offerings or not? In general, I'd have to say no, it doesn't.

AYCE sushi can easily suffer from many ways that restaurants can look to reduce costs while keeping diners' bellies full. They may pack the nigiri sushi with greater amounts of rice to fill up customers without having to use too much expensive fish. The fish may not be the freshest - be wary of restaurants that, perhaps, only offer AYCE sushi on one day of the week - that's probably the day they DON'T get a fresh shipment or are trying to use up old inventory.

AYCE sushi restaurants can also pull other tricks to minimize their cost, such as limiting selections to less expensive items such as crab, egg, octopus, etc and charging additionally for premium items. They may penalize you for any pieces of sushi not completely consumed by charging you full price for them to discourage over-ordering. They may also try to fill you up with "free" soup or salad before you sushi comes, and bring out your sushi very slowly, to discourage you from ordering more.

This is not to say every All-You-Can-Eat sushi meal I've experienced has been a bad one. But I would say that it is very, very rare and unlikely you will find the best sushi in your town or area at an AYCE sushi restaurant. The best sushi demands a premium because of the quality of both the sushi chef's skill and the quality of the fish they are serving you.