A Beginner’s Guide To Better-Tasting Sushi [Infographic]

The fine art of sushi isn’t something to take lightly — good chefs train for decades, and good sushi restaurants have customs all their own. This guide walks you through that training, how your sushi is made, all the different types, and of course, how to enjoy your sushi to the fullest.

Make no mistake, sushi isn’t supposed to be a pretentious food, even though it has, in many cases, earned a bit of a reputation for being fussy, especially if you eat at a nice restaurant with a well-trained sushi chef. The truth is somewhere in the middle. Once you learn the level of training a good sushi chef goes though — in some cases over a decade and a national certification test later — you’ll appreciate what makes it onto your plate a bit more.

Of course, not every sushi chef at the takeout place on the corner goes through that level of training, but they have likely been through some, so it’s worthwhile to read on and see how to easily order sushi and some of the common types of sushi in most restaurants.

A few of the tips here will look familiar — sit at the bar, ease off of the soy sauce — but others, like putting yourself in the hands of the sushi chef, are some of the best things you can do when you go somewhere nice. Chef’s choice almost always results in something rewarding.

Beyond that, there are some other things people argue about, like eating sushi from light fish to darker ones, or not rubbing your chopsticks together, but all in all, it’s a good, complete guide to the world of sushi for those folks interested — or who have only ever had the grocery store stuff. Check it out below.

[Via Swissotel Nankai Osaka]