Black Rice Sushi New Staple of Slow Food Movement
Posted on October 13, 2008
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Okay, so I’d never really heard of the "slow food" movement until yesterday when I attended the Head to Toe Expo in Costa Mesa, Calif., with the goal of viewing a cooking demonstration.
However, I’d been duped a bit by the Head to Toe Web site, which announced that "Chef Sean An of Slowfish [restaurant] will present the latest in Asian Cuisine prepared by a slow cooking method."
First, it turns out that the restaurant, located in Huntington Beach, Calif., is actually spelled using two words–Slow Fish. Second, the site confused slow food with slow cooking, so I was convinced the demonstrators would somehow make Asian food using a crock pot.
What Chef An, along with owner John Lee and an unidentified food writer/emcee, actually did was demonstrate sushi preparation using black rice.
The anonymous emcee explained that the slow food movement, which arose in Italy in the 1980s, emphasizes healthy, local, fresh ingredients–thus the black rice, which she claimed without explanation is "11 percent more nutritious" than white rice. However, the black rice is far from local, as its obtained from South Korea for the restaurant. (Slow food is a reaction to fast food and thus the emphasis on freshness and nutrition.)
An prepared both Ahi tuna and red snapper sushi using the rice, along with some California rolls with various ingredients. If you look at the photo, you’ll see the distinctive signs of the Korean style of sushi preparation, as the fish slices are huge and the rice patties small and round.
As for taste, well, the fish were fresh and fine and the rice tasted just about the same as white rice.
Alas, they didn’t demonstrate the rice preparation, so I’m not sure if they used traditional Japanese methodology.
The menu at Slow Fish is pretty diverse and includes Korean, Italian, Japanese and American dishes, which is usually a danger sign. The best restaurants generally stick to one approach, though fusiion restaurants often do excel. Anyway,Slow Fish is probably worth a visit if you’re in the neighborhood.
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