How Norway Created Salmon Sushi(npr.org)
npr.org
How Norway Created Salmon Sushi
http://www.npr.org/2015/09/18/441530790/how-the-desperate-norwegian-salmon-industry-created-a-sushi-staple
20 comments
Most of the cultivated salmon is actually containing significant amounts of heavy metals (due to the sea fish they get fed). And it is also given large amounts of medication to prevent sickness and parasites. This all ends up on our plates... I love salmon, but have almost fully stopped eating it, lacking a trusted source. Also because the salmon get fed with seafish, cultivating them actually contributes to overfishing the oceans. There is a german documentary about it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_Sl_wjiOyI
the overfishing problem you mention is also addressed in "Cowspiracy" (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3302820/) which I highly recommend. Since few days available on Netflix Germany.
Another way of see this is that both, Japan and Norway have a big aquaculture industry and they compete.
To assure the control of the salmon's market is an essential goal for Norway as nation; they produce 1 million of tons each year for the european market. When somebody tries to farm new salmon (in France or Spain or whatever) they typically flood the market with below cost salmon or trouts until the competence is distroyed by lack of rentability. This is probably the reason for not having salmon farms in the NW pacific that could be much more convenient for the Japanese market in the 80's. Only very big companies with lots of resources and money can dare to enter here.
To assure the control of the salmon's market is an essential goal for Norway as nation; they produce 1 million of tons each year for the european market. When somebody tries to farm new salmon (in France or Spain or whatever) they typically flood the market with below cost salmon or trouts until the competence is distroyed by lack of rentability. This is probably the reason for not having salmon farms in the NW pacific that could be much more convenient for the Japanese market in the 80's. Only very big companies with lots of resources and money can dare to enter here.
When somebody tries to farm new salmon (in France or Spain
or whatever) they typically flood the market with below cost
salmon or trouts until the competence is distroyed by lack of
rentability.
Dozens, maybe thousands of european salmon farming small companies vanished about 15 years ago and dumping was the final nail in the coffin. I could tell you some histories that producers said to me, but all is a little more complex than that. In the last 10 years we have a big recession in Europe by the scam. You can not expect a lot of regrowth inside Europe.
We have also two big and destructive tsunamis: Indonesia 2005 and Japan 2011. Ironically the banda-aceh tsunami that wipped entire villages favoured a vigorous regrowth of the aquaculture sector from India to Philipines because: 1-the fisher float was distroyed and 2-survivors were mortally afraid of working at the ocean. The sector in Japan have enough economical muscle to survive practically unscathed to the 2011 disaster. Another consequence was a renewed interest of the investors in South-America; and of course China is growing at at impressive "bigger-better-faster" pace that the rest of the world, as always. Aquaculture of trout and salmon in the south of europe is currently frozen and probably will never recover
We have also two big and destructive tsunamis: Indonesia 2005 and Japan 2011. Ironically the banda-aceh tsunami that wipped entire villages favoured a vigorous regrowth of the aquaculture sector from India to Philipines because: 1-the fisher float was distroyed and 2-survivors were mortally afraid of working at the ocean. The sector in Japan have enough economical muscle to survive practically unscathed to the 2011 disaster. Another consequence was a renewed interest of the investors in South-America; and of course China is growing at at impressive "bigger-better-faster" pace that the rest of the world, as always. Aquaculture of trout and salmon in the south of europe is currently frozen and probably will never recover
Interesting. Quite a lot of salmon and trout in the UK is Scottish. It never occurred to me that we might only be eating it locally, and not exporting it.
UK produces 162.000 ton of farmed salmon in Scotland and 11.000 ton of rainbow trout (2012) but it lacks of many suitable areas to growth and currently is the 5 or 6th european country.
Norway produced instead 1,3 million tons of salmon in 2012 (and growing). Is the first european productor and by far the largest (Spain is the second with about 260.000 tons/year of mussels). Their aquaculture industry is an strategic sector for this 'small' (in terms of population) nation.
Is interesting how Norway won against the huge japan pride focusing in improving the visibility in supermarkets and targetting people that wanted cheap food. Realizing that to target first the higher social classes was a lost battle from the start.
Norway produced instead 1,3 million tons of salmon in 2012 (and growing). Is the first european productor and by far the largest (Spain is the second with about 260.000 tons/year of mussels). Their aquaculture industry is an strategic sector for this 'small' (in terms of population) nation.
Is interesting how Norway won against the huge japan pride focusing in improving the visibility in supermarkets and targetting people that wanted cheap food. Realizing that to target first the higher social classes was a lost battle from the start.
Best i can find indicates that the 2013 exports slumped below the million ton mark...
It is exported, I can find it in Austria, however, it's no near as prevalent as Norwegian or Austrian (yes!) salmon.
Than being said, prices are now crazy low in Austria compared to what they were a few years ago.
Than being said, prices are now crazy low in Austria compared to what they were a few years ago.
I've only started to see Scottish salmon in the US in the last couple of years, and that only in smoked form. Very good stuff.
In the Netherlands Scottish salmon is sold as 'premium'. Funny how these things go sometimes.
There's a fair market (at least here in Scotland) for "premium" line-caught salmon, so I suppose it could be similar there?
Yes. The question is that fishes do not eat or use carbs normally, they use fat as source of energy and protein as last resource. Salmonidae are a little different because use protein as main source of energy. They burn muscle in its travel ending skinny and with deformed heads. Thus, normally maybe the 80-90% of flesh in wild salmon is tasty protein. If you think in a "fatty fish" you never think in salmon.
Aquaculture fishes instead do not have problems to obtain fat. Fat is cheaper than protein so you have better cost-benefit ratio if you feed your salmons with more fat content pellets.
I'm not saying that the farmed salmon is a bad product at all but wild salmon is a different thing. Not so apt to freeze and send to thousands of Km. You can earn more money selling it in fresh in the local market as wild product (but be aware that some 'wild' high-prized salmon in the market is farmed probably in fact).
Aquaculture fishes instead do not have problems to obtain fat. Fat is cheaper than protein so you have better cost-benefit ratio if you feed your salmons with more fat content pellets.
I'm not saying that the farmed salmon is a bad product at all but wild salmon is a different thing. Not so apt to freeze and send to thousands of Km. You can earn more money selling it in fresh in the local market as wild product (but be aware that some 'wild' high-prized salmon in the market is farmed probably in fact).
Where is that line caught salmon from - presumably not from Scottish rivers or lochs?
At the sea.
I was curious about whether these were local Scottish salmon on imported salmon - traditionally there was a fair amount of salmon caught at sea near to the mouths of rivers in Scotland but that has mostly stopped - partially, as far as I know, from pressure from the landowners who own fishing rights to rivers & lochs. Fishing in Scotland can be extremely expensive.
NB I am in Scotland and eat a fair bit of salmon and I wasn't aware of the "line caught" label.
Edit: And by "extremely expensive" I mean up to £10,000 a fish.
NB I am in Scotland and eat a fair bit of salmon and I wasn't aware of the "line caught" label.
Edit: And by "extremely expensive" I mean up to £10,000 a fish.
> I was curious about whether these were local Scottish salmon on imported salmon
Not easy to know, but many could be imported from Denmark probably, scottish and faroese salmons are in the same population.
> Fishing in Scotland can be extremely expensive
The NASCO headquarters are in Edinburgh in fact. Is a measure to try to recover the species. To fish the genetically better specimens just a week before to spawn is a silly move (you are killing millions of fingerlings).
http://www.nasco.int/
Americans are also worried about the US fisheries and concerned about the need to preserve the resource. All atlantic salmon in the US market is farm-raised.
http://www.fishwatch.gov/seafood_profiles/species/salmon/spe...
Not easy to know, but many could be imported from Denmark probably, scottish and faroese salmons are in the same population.
> Fishing in Scotland can be extremely expensive
The NASCO headquarters are in Edinburgh in fact. Is a measure to try to recover the species. To fish the genetically better specimens just a week before to spawn is a silly move (you are killing millions of fingerlings).
http://www.nasco.int/
Americans are also worried about the US fisheries and concerned about the need to preserve the resource. All atlantic salmon in the US market is farm-raised.
http://www.fishwatch.gov/seafood_profiles/species/salmon/spe...
scottish salmon is on a lot of menus in california. it is generally sold as a premium pan-roasted fish entree. it's quite good, almost as good as alaskan (king, sockeye) which is the primary wild market salmon here in ca.
i believe i've seen it in new york as well.
i believe i've seen it in new york as well.
Does this dumping not bring in the WTO?
I can only find this reference from 2009 claiming they have stopped dumping. http://www.eu-norway.org/news/repeals_anti_dumping/#.Vf1gScR...
Dumping has to involve a government subsidy. Selling the product below cost at manufacturer's or investor's expense is just an aggressive market acquisition strategy.
The way I read it, it doesn't have to involve government subsidy. But maybe I am missing something?
"In economics, "dumping" is a kind of predatory pricing, especially in the context of international trade. It occurs when manufacturers export a product to another country at a price either below the price charged in its home market or below its cost of production."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumping_(pricing_policy)
"In economics, "dumping" is a kind of predatory pricing, especially in the context of international trade. It occurs when manufacturers export a product to another country at a price either below the price charged in its home market or below its cost of production."
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dumping_(pricing_policy)
Canada is alright with PNW salmon farming, but the US is not. The biggest concern is protecting the native salmon runs, especially against the risks of disease, drugs, and general filth building up in the farms and contaminating things.
Canadians are NOT alright with this practice. Corporations from Norway have industrial pens of Atlantic salmon in Pacific waters within Canada. This is not just a concern, the items you list are problems today, as well as pollution from the pens, and over-fishing of traditional stocks to provide feed for the farmed fish.
Without the public's knowledge because these deals and the details within these documents that are being signed are kept secret, and without the consent of most Canadians, politicians in Canada have signed off on foreign corporations extracting resources and exporting profits from Canada -- and if we try to stop you, you can sue our government and collect even more money.
Without the public's knowledge because these deals and the details within these documents that are being signed are kept secret, and without the consent of most Canadians, politicians in Canada have signed off on foreign corporations extracting resources and exporting profits from Canada -- and if we try to stop you, you can sue our government and collect even more money.
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There was actually a very sensible rule followed in China and Japan about eating raw fish. You only ate sea fish raw, while freshwater fish were always cooked.
There's a good rationale behind this. Freshwater fish tend to carry parasites that can cross the species boundary between fish and human. Whereas, sea fish do not tend to carry such parasites. You can understand the reason for that based on natural selection. Its an exceedingly rare event for a sea fish to be eaten by a land mammal (at least it was on the scale of evolutionary time before modern times), so most parasites of sea fish have not evolved a mechanism to exist in land mammal bodies. Whereas fresh water fish are often eaten by land mammals, and so many strains of parasites have adapted to make a smooth transfer from fish to land mammal body.
Its very sensible NOT to eat raw Salmon. Although they end up in the sea, they have two phases of life in bodies of fresh water where they can pick up parasites that can transfer to a human host.
There's a good rationale behind this. Freshwater fish tend to carry parasites that can cross the species boundary between fish and human. Whereas, sea fish do not tend to carry such parasites. You can understand the reason for that based on natural selection. Its an exceedingly rare event for a sea fish to be eaten by a land mammal (at least it was on the scale of evolutionary time before modern times), so most parasites of sea fish have not evolved a mechanism to exist in land mammal bodies. Whereas fresh water fish are often eaten by land mammals, and so many strains of parasites have adapted to make a smooth transfer from fish to land mammal body.
Its very sensible NOT to eat raw Salmon. Although they end up in the sea, they have two phases of life in bodies of fresh water where they can pick up parasites that can transfer to a human host.
Is because Diphyllobothriasis, cestode larvaes from freshwater fishes that can be very dangerous for humans; but the fish metazoan parasite that send more sushi lovers to the hospital is marine in fact.
Anisakiasis by roundworm larvae in raw fish or squid normally is not a big problem but is painful, and can lead to serious health issues sometimes. Any competent japanese chef will know how to deal with it. European law obliges to restaurants to frozen all fish destined to be served as sushi just for this.
Anisakiasis by roundworm larvae in raw fish or squid normally is not a big problem but is painful, and can lead to serious health issues sometimes. Any competent japanese chef will know how to deal with it. European law obliges to restaurants to frozen all fish destined to be served as sushi just for this.
"European law obliges to restaurants to frozen all fish destined to be served as sushi just for this."
Really ? All fish served as sushi in Europe has been previously frozen ?
Really ? All fish served as sushi in Europe has been previously frozen ?
I can not speak for all asiatic restaurant owners in London, Berlin or Paris, but most chefs specialized in serving raw fishes do not joke about this and avoid the problem using special ultra-freezers. This reduces the safety-time to several hours (It is known that Anisakis larvae can survive for about a week in a domestic freezer) and helps to keep the quality of the sashimi. Thus, when you hear 'fresh', you probably should decode this as 'ultra-frozen in fresh' as something totally natural.
The cut of sashimi in translucent fine lames is probably a way to detect and clean the fish of any visible parasites before to serve it. Exposing the beauty of the fish muscle in intrincated designs you are also showing the client that your product is of optimum quality and totally clean.
The cut of sashimi in translucent fine lames is probably a way to detect and clean the fish of any visible parasites before to serve it. Exposing the beauty of the fish muscle in intrincated designs you are also showing the client that your product is of optimum quality and totally clean.
Here's the UK implementation: https://www.food.gov.uk/business-industry/fish-shellfish/fre...
I'm not sure if this archived page is still accurate: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20150624093026/htt...
I'm not sure if this archived page is still accurate: http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/20150624093026/htt...
Many types of fish used for sushi in Japan have been frozen at some point because commercial trawlers spend weeks if not months at sea, and the catch has to be frozen or left to spoil.
It's the same in the US. If a restaurant is claiming the fish is not frozen, they are breaking the law and eating the fish is significantly more dangerous.
I am not sure about Europe, but that's the law in the US too (there are a few exceptions).
That's why this was such an interesting story, battling prejudice and ancient folk wisdom is no simple task. Here's a typical Norwegian salmon farm http://i0.wp.com/blogg.seafood.no/wp-content/uploads/2013/02.... This is a sea-water farm and the fish is vaccinated early on and live a healthy antibiotics free life until they end up on your sushi (sour-tasting rice).
fish farms had just gone commercial in the 70's but hadn't grown that much at the time. the excess of high quality fish was wild salmon.
in the 70's in norway (and in alaska, can't speak about anywhere else) commercial fishing was in it's prime.
you can read more about the history of norwegian aquaculture here. http://www.svt.ntnu.no/iso/anders.skonhoft/Marine%20Policy%2...
in the 70's in norway (and in alaska, can't speak about anywhere else) commercial fishing was in it's prime.
you can read more about the history of norwegian aquaculture here. http://www.svt.ntnu.no/iso/anders.skonhoft/Marine%20Policy%2...
Only eat raw salmon that has been flash frozen. This will kill the pesky parasites, according to the chef at a sushi restaurant I used to frequent.
My favorite sushi chef lightly smokes his salmon.
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To this day, the salmon in Japanese sushi restaurants is always labeled サーモン "saamon", which is known to be imported and is OK to eat raw; and never 鮭 "s(h)ake", which is (usually) local and always salted and cooked first -- even though ''shake'' as a term covers all types of salmons.
I've been to plenty of sushi restaurants in Japan where it's labelled 鮭 and pronounced "shake". No idea if that means it was local salmon
I lived there for two years and clearly remember it being labelled as 鮭 (while painstakingly learning the words and characters too for different common foods as well). Granted, this was about 10 years ago, so maybe it has changed?
In a sushi restaurant? Of course there are lots of 鮭 dishes in izakayas and such, but I've never seen any in a sushi restaurant.
See also: http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q114...
See also: http://detail.chiebukuro.yahoo.co.jp/qa/question_detail/q114...
The fact that the Norwegians had to freeze all of their surplus salmon probably helped, too. Freezing kills parasites, eliminating the #1 reason the Japanese didn't want to eat raw salmon.
Nowadays, most salmon stays frozen until a few hours before it goes on your sushi. Salmon is uniquely suited for freezing/thawing because its high fat content helps it retain texture. Freezing also has the side effect of giving salmon a relatively long shelf life, making it readily available in parts of the world that are thousands of miles away from actual salmon sources.
Nowadays, most salmon stays frozen until a few hours before it goes on your sushi. Salmon is uniquely suited for freezing/thawing because its high fat content helps it retain texture. Freezing also has the side effect of giving salmon a relatively long shelf life, making it readily available in parts of the world that are thousands of miles away from actual salmon sources.
The only reason Norwegian salmon getting frozen is transportation. Domestically, it is sold chilled near exclusively. Well and in a few smoked/fermented variants certainly.
Interesting! Lived in Japan a long time, and always half-wondered why it was "salmon" for sushi & "sake" for everything else but never asked.
Fascinating! Here's another, longer article about this phenomenon: http://www.nortrade.com/sectors/articles/norways-introductio...
When I lived in Argentina we would call Sushi restaurants "Salmon shops" as they would never serve Tuna, it would be 95% salmon and some minute pieces of white fish.
Those are raised in Chile probably, the american productor of Salmon. Is the same as Norway for European market (and often farms belong to Norwegian or Norway/Chile mixed companies).
> productor
You're probably looking for the English work 'producer'.
You're probably looking for the English work 'producer'.
Yes, thank you for the correction
*word
Muphry's Law, argh.
Muphry's Law, argh.
Ironically, a large part of Norwegian Salmon is now owned by Mitsubishi: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2014/09/22/mitsubishi-to-buy-sal...
Didn't know, but i'm not suprised. The history is much more interesting in fact. They seem to have invented the fishcoin with mediterranean resources:
(2009): http://www.worldfishingtoday.com/news/default.asp?nyId=3387
(2013): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-rigney/japan-bluefin-tuna...
(2009): http://www.worldfishingtoday.com/news/default.asp?nyId=3387
(2013): http://www.huffingtonpost.com/matt-rigney/japan-bluefin-tuna...
The more you know…
The article mentions salmon being responsible for the popularity of sushi globally. I actually prefer salmon sushi over tuna sushi by far. In fact, if it wasn't for salmon, I probably would've never like sushi. My first few experiences were with tuna and I hated it each time.
The article mentions salmon being responsible for the popularity of sushi globally. I actually prefer salmon sushi over tuna sushi by far. In fact, if it wasn't for salmon, I probably would've never like sushi. My first few experiences were with tuna and I hated it each time.
Well THANK you Norway!!!
I simply LOVE sushi salmon, raw salmon.
If it wasn't for you who knows if I would've got this pleasure :)
I do think that smoked salmon makes better sushi than raw.
Probably. I remember a wild salmon smoked with fir wood and with entire pepper grains in a small village in Sweden that was absolutely memorable. My parents sniffed the smoke, entered automatically in bloodhound mode and find a fisherman that was working in a lake beach and sell them one.
I like also the raw but can come in several different qualities. Some are very good, other not so.
I like also the raw but can come in several different qualities. Some are very good, other not so.
How I read:
How Norway Created _Salman Rushdie_.
How Norway Created _Salman Rushdie_.
That's an equally valid reading. The author is dead, after all. ;-)
Norwegian farmed salmon are among the biggest sources of food-borne contaminants in a normal diet. It contains four times as much dioxin as the highest permissible limit for meat, eggs and milk.
Apparently this warning has been lifted:
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/eats/norway-farmed-sal...
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/eats/norway-farmed-sal...
Go for wild catched cod (for example) from the Atlantic or Pacific instead, the food given to the Salmon contains large quantities of fish caught in the Baltic sea which is more or less unfit for human consumption.
Screw the sushi. Kimbab is the new hot thing.
speaking of sushi, here's a video about the extinction of blue fin tuna (includes economics, history, culture): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hivvTo6VSS8
One more reason to eat salmon sushi, salmon is farmed and will not go extinct.
Open-net pen farmed salmon is done in the same water sources that wild salmon swim through. Farmed salmon have no natural predators so viruses are more readily transmitted to their wild counterparts. For more information: http://www.salmonconfidential.ca/
See Oceanwise's salmon recommendations:
http://www.oceanwise.ca/seafood/salmon
See Oceanwise's salmon recommendations:
http://www.oceanwise.ca/seafood/salmon
Farmed salmon is much inferior to wild salmon though.
Amen. I'm originally from the west of Ireland and we used to sometimes get fresh wild salmon from a local river off a fisherman friend of the family. The taste difference was just amazing. The farmed stuff is liking eating plastic in comparison. The other thing that makes a huge difference in my experience is to have fish that's never been frozen (someone once told me the reason has to do with the crystallization process killing the taste, although I've no idea how that works).
> (someone once told me the reason has to do with the crystallization process killing the taste, although I've no idea how that works)
The crystallization process in this case means that the solid crystal formed by water freezing into ice ruptures all of the cell walls, releasing their contents. Once that happens the chemistry of the food can change drastically as enzymes and proteins that were once only active inside cells are now floating everywhere.
In the case of frozen salmon, the taste appears to come from some sort of enzymatic process involving fatty acids [1].
[1] http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf000021c
The crystallization process in this case means that the solid crystal formed by water freezing into ice ruptures all of the cell walls, releasing their contents. Once that happens the chemistry of the food can change drastically as enzymes and proteins that were once only active inside cells are now floating everywhere.
In the case of frozen salmon, the taste appears to come from some sort of enzymatic process involving fatty acids [1].
[1] http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf000021c
Crystallization bursts cell membranes, causing more rapid decay from the moment it is thawed. It is that (micro-)decay that causes the change in flavor.
Depends on your tastes. The farmed stuff has a higher fat content, which tends to be more palatable in sushi.
Fascinating. I love sushi but never knew that so much of it was actually of Norway's influence. Unlike the famed influence of sushi chefs in west Canada and California in the mid-20th century, which carried over into the names of popular sushi rolls (the "California" roll), it would seem this Norway invention was even more important, but where are my Norway rolls?
Keep in mind that California is very good at PR. Or bragging. Depends on how you look at it. Other places are similar, of course. Paris, and France in general, comes to mind, but so does Berlin. London can't decide if it's awesome or rubbish, but it knows it's important. California is convinced it's the center of the universe.
The the logic I can draw from your statement is that Norway is a very humble place :)
Well, yes, that's half of it. The other half is that social status is more implicit here.
I'm down in Holland, thinking about visiting Norway soon, it's just across the little pond, after all. Maybe some of that implicit status will rub off on my during my visit. You have a recommendation for a good place for a Norway-newbie to visit?
As a tourist? Go to the north west: Møre og Romsdal and further up north, Lofoten. If you want to visit the national parks, go east from Møre (the mid parts of Norway). I'm Norwegian, and if you want to see postcard nature, you have to go to the norhern coastal parts. Don't go just to Oslo or Stavanger and think that's all there is (although both are beautiful in their own ways). Go in late July or August. Best wishes!
They just like to make copious amounts of money and stay quiet.
Because the thing Norway brought to Japan already had a name (it's a fish!).
As always when sushi is mentioned on HN, here is a link to the fine documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1772925/
And Tampopo should be in the same vain, supposedly very good, fiction though: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092048
And Tampopo should be in the same vain, supposedly very good, fiction though: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092048
Tampopo and The Funeral are both incredible films by Itami, who was a master. Excellent satirist. The Funeral is also one of the "comfiest" movies I have ever seen.
Visiting sushi places in Japan, they often have pictures of northern lights and Norwegian mountains telling customers they have fresh salmon shipped from Norway by air: http://www.eikeland.se/snap/salmon.jpg
I'm told that they fly cargo planes with salmon from Norway to Japan, unload salmon then fill the planes with electronics, fly to eastern Europe where the various brands have their continent-wide warehouses, unload electronics and then fly to Norway to load up with salmon again.
A very interesting connection with our laptops. And very logical also; a common trick when you export something is to assure to fill the wide containers with anything that you can buy cheap in the destiny country before to return home. Thus you optimize your transport costs or, like in this case, share it with other companies.
the name of the brand is 'aurora salmon'