Explain why sushi cost so much

I need 5 dollar sushi that definitely hasn't been cummed on. Can you guys manage that?

it adds ancient japanese flavor

wtf.. where are you from?

Christ I think you're right

video.nationalgeographic.com/video/short-film-showcase/a-750-year-old-secret-see-how-soy-sauce-is-made

Funnily enough, the one landlocked state in New England. The place I am speaking of is Tian Fu Buffet, which has locations elsewhere too.

It might be a weekend special or similar now that I think about it. I used to go there with my mother and grandmother every Saturday when I was in college.

Nigiri is usually cheaper from sashimi from the places I have gone too. The trade off was Sashimi was thicker and there was a abundant variety on the platter.

The only other reason I can think price changes is from if they season the rice and their fish supplier.

Sushi costs so much because people are willing to pay for it at a high price.

Nice. I'm from socal outside of LA and the cheapest place I can think of that isn't sewage tier is 30 dollars. Went there one time and ate so much that I had to stand over a toilet after for an hour because I thought I was gonna puke. good times

run my child

>Explain why sushi cost so much.

does it actually? I can usually get 2 pieces for 2 dollars. Factoring in even just wageslave wages and the cost of the rice and fish per piece, is it actually expensive?

How much is a slice of raw salmon actually worth? Half a handful of rice?

What SHOULD it cost?

>I can usually get 2 pieces for 2 dollars
at 7-11 maybe

a sushi bar in Redondo Beach actually

>Redondo Beach

living in the US, i can get enough fish to fulfill 5 rolls for $10. and thats *if* i dont use fisherman hookups. the rice is barely anything, maybe $2 per pound. same goes for veggie ingredients. most expensive part is actually seaweed simply due to low availability. combine it all and im not paying fucking $16 for 6 slices of sushi.
dont give a flying fuck about how well fish sticks to rice in wind tunnel, my mouth doesnt taste nippon fish folded over 1000 times.

you got me

this. it will cost what people are willing to pay until that becomes less than it costs to airlift in fresh fish every day or two, at which point only the hyperautists who make every nonperfect fish into soup will be left and it will cost more until the expats who want a taste of home at any cost disappear.

>living in the US, i can get enough fish to fulfill 5 rolls for $10

this is probably a dumb question but CAN you just buy regular raw supermarket fish and use it for sushi? I mean provided you get it as soon as the fish is put out

I used to frequent a Marukai that had fish so fresh, it was still twitching in the plastic wrap if you showed up in the morning but I was iffy about even THAT

considering the conditions the japs import and export their fish, id say its just as good.
and yes, if you find a local wharf or something, you can fish before they draw they draw their final breath.

Sushi fish is flash frozen, or at least frozen, to kill parasites. Just because a fish is fresh doesn't mean that it's parasite free.

Anyway, sushi grade fish is expensive where I live. Not much cheaper than just going to a relatively cheap sushi place, which still tastes pretty good.

>Sushi fish is flash frozen, or at least frozen, to kill parasites
Forgot to add on that there are bound to be exceptions that are safe but that's the general rule

This is horribly wrong. Enjoy your shit-tier "sushi" at your Hong Kong Buffet with old fish you stupid fat fucking faggots.

You don't have one near you, do you?

I've been to Japanese restaurants, and been on a business trip to Japan. Sushi is sushi. It tastes exactly the same regardless of how pretentious the setting. Just some places are more expensive than others.

Don't be an elitist hipster about it.

Sushi is a pain in the ass to make. Probably take triple the time as other dishes in the same restaurant. If you go to a buffet there is usually one guy whose only job is to make sushi all day.

Fuck that noise, that's why it cost a premium.

I live in Atlanta. I'm not being pretentious, I'm just stating that buffet sushi is the lowest quality sushi out there and I feel sorry for you if you really think "sushi is sushi" and that it all tastes the same. Granted, you can pay more for sushi if you choose to go to a high-end super posh place downtown, but there are places that have fresh fish flown in daily and if you want to get some good sushi from there you might spend ~$20-$30. You get what you pay for. Chinese buffet sushi tastes old and almost is never fresh.

I pay 17€ for top edge sushi all you can eat.

You poorfag
Cologne germany

But not buffet shit. I mean good shit that get produced for you after you ordered via ipad

It's a very effective shortcut that's hard to notice and almost always necessary for logistical reasons to get a traditional variety in season in America. It's not a necessity, and the best stuff works on a "throw out the bad, stew the iffy, and identify and serve the very best" system rather than a "freeze it all before it can go bad" system.

>ipad
>electricity on premises at all
this is kind of like listening to my japanese coworkers talk about a country-fried steak being the peak of beefiness that only americans could dream up.

does your girlfriend get raped for free after?

is it delivered by truck

I really do think sushi is sushi, because whether it is fresh from that morning or "fresh" from that week and driven in by a refrigerator truck, the taste is not impacted in the slightest.

The reason Chinese buffet sushi tastes off is because sushi is not Chinese. Contrary to weird urban belief, Asian cuisine is not interchangeable.

Buffet sushi that tastes old and isn't fresh likely isn't. Buffets have food out in rows for self-serving. It is common sense when it comes to buffets that you should wait until the fresh stuff is brought out before you get any. At Tian Fu Buffet, they tend to bring out a new batch either when the old stuff is gone or after about an hour.

>fresh fish is better than fish transported to a restaurant

Holy shit, user, you're the first person to notice this! Whenever I buy fish, I let it sit on the counter for a couple of days, but you might be onto something with this whole "fresh" concept!

>the taste is not impacted in the slightest
this is how I know you're an idiot

>It is common sense when it comes to buffets that you should wait until the fresh stuff is brought out before you get any. At Tian Fu Buffet, they tend to bring out a new batch either when the old stuff is gone or after about an hour.

Or, you know, I'll just pay a little more and NOT eat at a Chinese all-you-can-eat buffet if I want sushi. To each his own, I guess.

You realize of course it is part of my job to sample foods? Fuck off you armchair sous chef.

Being a NEET isn't a job though fat ass

>projecting this hard
Some people on Veeky Forums actually have jobs, you know.

>because whether it is fresh from that morning or "fresh" from that week and driven in by a refrigerator truck, the taste is not impacted in the slightest
I'm sorry your parents have a faggot for a child.

Is that sea urchin? Idk how I feel about buffet sushi. Its gotta be made fresh imo

Have you been to grocery store? Sushi rice is expensive af
It may be a fish meme but a good sushi restaurant has good fish.
Other than that tell me where else to eat raw salmon or tuna or what. You can only order those in japanese restaurant. So it is a niche.

>Have you been to grocery store? Sushi rice is expensive af
There's your problem white man. Go to an asian market and buy your rice for cheap.

Yes i'm talking about asian markets as well, dumbass
It is still more expensive per volume than italian, indians, and thailandese rice.

to make "sushi rice"
get short-grain rice
wait
or use a modern rice cooker which will pressurize to a lower pressure

the $10 half-kilos are for the people that bought $5 boxes of pocky a decade ago and are older but not any smarter

enjoy your worms

Could you explain your second comment about no electricity please.
I'm not being a twat I just don't understand maybe use another analogy?

this is a lie

> dumb 'mericans still think they'll be able to afford luxuries like Sushi

Get used to being relegated to a 2nd world country, niggers.

See back around 1893, the west was introduced to it and a few years later became something served in the US due to Japanese immigrants. Rich people of the day took to it, so said Japanese immigrants who were mostly poor jacked up the price so that they could earn a little more money than "barely anything".

user I don't think you know what 1st/2nd/3rd world refers to

>2nd World

I don't live in a Soviet bloc though. 1st world is the sphere of American influence, 2nd world is the sphere of Soviet influence, 3rd world are unaligned nations throughout the world, and 4th world are undeveloped tribes that are primarily unknown in existence to the world.

cuck

Um because if you're using five different types of fish you need to purchase and pre five different kinds of fish. And because most sushi is not cooked, the ingredients need to be very fresh (expensive, potentially lots of waste) because you can't hide the fact that it's not the freshest by cooking it. It's also a bit labor intensive so those are some thing that factor into the cost.

I love how this makes it look like bongo doubled the nat debt, but he was actually fixing it

For some reason just because you can visually see how it was put together you think you can decide its not worth the money. People like you never complain the same about deep fried shit or things that were simply thrown on the grill. Its flawed thinking, is what it is.

WTF? How the fuck did Obama blow 10 TRILLION in 2 fucking terms?

The most any president ever spent over 2 terms was 4.7 trillion.

>he was actually fixing it

And you wonder why 'mericans keep failing math class and basic algebra. lol

> "Doubling our debt is fixing it!"

This is why 'Mericans are the butt of jokes for the rest of the world

Why does Thai food cost so much?

Sarcasm about hipster-dazzling ~hi-tech luxury~ aside, a sushi place is not a very good sushi place for its price if your order entails more than saying how hungry you are. This is a materials question, not a weaponized autism question; on any given day some fish will be fresh prime specimens, some will be last week's refrozen worm-gnawed runts, and if you're asking for something specific rather than the catch of the day you're either getting the runt or the chef has to massively overbuy every single fish on the menu.

The comparision was about pricing and perception. The underlings get dragged to fucking IHOP after a trade show to keep them from embarassing themselves at the bar, and notice that the country-fried steak is more expensive than the T-bone and takes the place of pride on the dinner menu. Now, when that's imagined as the standard rule of the cuisine and BEST STEAK EVAR obviously it's what they put the head chef on it never comes out bloody and raw like the others is the peak, there's actual discussion about what other toppings and overcooking you can do to a steak to justify the steakhouse prices they've heard rumors of, with "I hear you can get a whole fried onion on top if we ever get a hotel near an Outback" and "they're price-gouging ripoffs that only pretentious westaboo autists pretend to like" factions usually appearing.

Umm, it doesn't. Where I go, its 99 cents per plate, two pieces per plate for most types. Some three, some one, depending on how fancy they are.

the best sushi is comped sushi

The best sushi is compressed sushi. Folded thrice by hand and then the fattiest piece of tuna 1.1cm thick is placed on top of fresh wasabi topped rice. Dipped in either soy or tomato sauce and washed down with ginger and asahi biru

Thank you.
I take it your a purist let the fish talk for the fish and let the meat talk for the meat.
I agree the only time spices and herbs need to be used is if the original product is not truly at its best.

I had never had bad sushi before, I've eaten at high end and middle of the road restaurants and even liked Kroger sushi and none of it prepared me for how bad buffet sushi is. It's the limpest, driest, tiniest, blandest filet of fish on top of old stale sushi rice that's almost completely dried out and hard. Buffet sushi is shit. Literally any other sushi you can buy is better.

...

>go to chinese buffet for $7.99
>all you can eat sushi

it's not expensive. You can make it at home too, of course.

The one near me is so shit though. I'd honestly rather go spend $20 at the local Belt Sushi than the Chinese buffet.

go to a different one then. Most cities have a dozen or more of the places.

Unless your restaurant is shit they'll hve tons of selection for different cuts of fish meat. This what makes it expensive. Keeping rice is expensive as well because they spoil quickly.
Unless your resturant is a meme restaurant which serves tuna salmon and imitation crabs, it is worth it in my opinion

There is one in my town, and one in the closest next town over. Not sure how many in the largest next town, but that's too far to drive for Chinese buffet. I'd rather go to Belt Sushi.

What's it called?

Is it really that expensive though? I go with my gril probably twice a month and we rarely spend more than $30 between the two of us and walk out good. That's like 2-5 rolls depending on what you order. Miso and salads included. Seems like a purty good deal to me.

everyone talks about "thick yoshi" etc but when you're with a tight yoshi you feel the difference

i like that patti smith song

if you believe that, i have a box of pocky to sell you

Hachi

...

At most you're going to want sasanishiki for the lower starch and good taste, but it's not any more expensive than standard koshihikari and not universal even across high-end restaurants in Tokyo. What's far more important is aging to reduce moisture and a cooking method which doesn't soak it (also why short-grain is vital, larger grains waterlog while cooking.)