Customer Reviews

The Connoisseur's Guide to Sushi: Everything You Need to Know About Sushi Varieties and Accompaniments, Etiquette and Dining Tips and More

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Dave Lowry is an incredibly knowledgeable martial artist and prolific author who also happens to be a food critic. This is outstanding book is the logical concatenation of his numerous talents, a true A-to-Z guide to everything you need to know about sushi including what to eat, how to eat it, and what to drink with what you eat. It covers the rice, types of sushi you can obtain, toppings, fillings, condiments, utensils, accompaniments, etiquette, and more. The 300+ pages are packed with interesting and useful information to keep you from embarrassing yourself and make your dining experience more enjoyable. The "watch for," "trivia," and "ask the itamae" call-outs are really neat features.

The book is broken into three parts. Part one covers everything about the sushi itself including rice, nigiri sushi (hand-pressed), maki sushi (wrapped or rolled), chirashi sushi (scattered), oshi sushi (pressed), tane (toppings), gu (fillings), and nori (seaweed). Part two is an in-depth primer of the various types of fish used for sushi. Part three explains the practice and etiquette of eating sushi, including condiments, drinks, utensils, accoutrements and furnishings, the itamae (sushi chef), and sushi ritual.

The only bad thing about this otherwise outstanding book is that it has no pictures. I'm still giving it five stars because the content is so good, but it would have been even better with color photos of the various types of fish and pictures or drawings of the other items he refers to that many readers will not be familiar with. Regardless, as with all of Lowry's books it is comprehensive, easy to read, filled with interesting vignettes, and very useful. I was first introduced to sushi (and sashimi) at a judo tournament in 1972, yet I learned a lot I did not already know in this fine tome. If you are into sushi you've got to buy this book!

Lawrence Kane
Author of Surviving Armed Assaults, The Way of Kata, and Martial Arts Instruction

This really is a must if you love to explore different sushi's but become intimidated when you arrive at a new restaurant and become overwhelmed by the menu.

Mr. Lowry seems to be most interested in impressing us with his knowledge and believes that his readers want to become snobs. Most of us are never going to eat sushi in Japan, much less in the men's club type of sushi restaurant where competition is supreme. We will eat sushi in our American neighborhood restaurants, where there is no one to impress, because no one cares. However, under all the ego, there is useful information. It is incredibly irritating to find it, since Mr. Lowry also can't stick to a subject for more than a few sentences, before he wanders off into another story to prove his innate superiority. Maybe Mr. Lowry would consider issuing a pocket guide, which omits the fluff and leaves only the useful information about how to select sushi, how to know if the fish or seafood is fresh, what condiments belong with each fish, and other such facts.

The first thing that strikes me about this book is the gross abuse of metaphor, some of which are quite amusing, but most are either sophmoric or simply tiring. Still the book gives a great overview of the world of sushi. I would not take it as the only authority on the subject, though (you should never take ANY one opinion as the only authority on ANY subject.) Because I'm still something of a sushi neophite, I can't confirm most of what he says but I know that on the subject of salmon he is largely ignorant and biased. I do know salmon fairly well having been born and raised, and still avidly fishing in, the Northwest. I wonder how much the rest of the book is similarly tainted. In fact, I was cruising along happily until I reached the section on sake (shake) and was shocked at how much of what he had to say was simply and definitively untrue. I suppose his predilection for farmed atlantic salmon could be forgiven by his home location far away from any salmon-rearing grounds, but for crying out loud, he's far away from Japan, too! Does this taint his authority on that subject as well? Plus, his derisive dig at environmentalists protesting dams just caps off his bias and lack of authority on the whole subject of pacific salmon, the group of species ALWAYS served out here (Seattle.) Dave, perhaps you should spend a little time out here fishing and tasting. I think you might relish the opportunity to fill in your education on salmon. Anyway, if you assume that salmon is his only blind spot in the world of sushi, this book is an otherwise excellent reference. I hope.

The absurdity of doing a book about how to be a sushi snob and then not having ONE SINGLE photo in the book makes this utterly laughable. Ya know - the old - SHOW don't TELL thing. Totally irrelevant because of this.

I checked this book out from the library to see if it was worth buying. Thankfully that's what I did. This book isn't even worth a Fodor's backcover. Totally, Totally worthless. If you like droning verbage buy the book. If you want to learn about Sushi or how to make it move on down the road. In all the years with Amazon this is the first time I have ever given a review less than 3 stars and even that was rare until now. This book is good for carrying in your backpack into the mountains if you need emergency wipe your lower backside paper. Save your money!