That being said, not all of the tradition associated with sushi are so positive. Women face discrimination and sexism in the sushi world, in a culture which holds very traditional (and old fashioned) ideas about who should be preparing dishes in a restaurant. Nadeshiko Sushi is the only sushi restaurant in Japan where all of the sushi chef’s are women. The Wall Street Journal interviewed Jiro’s son Yoshikazu in response to the famous movie “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” where he explained why there were no female sushi chef’s in the documentary.
He exposed a traditionalist opinion that a woman’s menstrual cycle changes their sense of taste, making them unfit for high end sushi making. Women in Japan also face the unfortunate urban legend of having an overall warmer body temperature (a half-truth and not different enough to merit discussion) which makes them “unfit for handling raw fish,” as well as the idea that the use of perfume and makeup over time can mask their sense of smell. Even if it were the case that potentially having a slightly higher body temperature could affect the ability to make sushi, younger men can have a slightly higher body temperature than older men, so shouldn’t the same logic apply to them?
Biology And Sushi Making
I instantly viewed these claims as ridiculous, but decided I should do my due diligence before preparing this article. I wanted to take a look at some of the studies which are used to back up the sexist ideas that women make inferior chefs. A study from over 15 years ago found that food consumption and preferences can possibly change during one’s menstrual cycle (and pregnancy), but obviously I found absolutely nothing to suggest that women would be unable to be equal or even better sushi chef’s than their male counterparts. In addition, one’s body temperature variance is typically very slight, and even occurs in men for many different reasons (minor illnesses, clothes, exercise, etc.).
The study in question is “Variations in food preference and consumption across the menstrual cycle“ which indicated that while some taste and smell preferences may change slightly, there didn’t seem to be any evidence as to whether it made any qualitative difference in preparation, particularly as we’re looking at a woman’s ability to handle food, not what she wants to eat at that moment. It is always sad when one-off studies are used to promote a sexist agenda.
Misogyny In The Sushi World
The sushi chef’s at Nadeshiko Sushi don’t just have to deal with long hours and hard work which comes with any kitchen job. Apparently, on occasion random men will come into the restaurant not to actually eat anything, but just to insult the female chefs skills and work appropriateness. It is revolting and juvenile, but the sushi chefs take it in stride and continue to put out a quality product to this day. Critics of the restaurant call it gimmicky and tacky, appealing to those who enjoy fashionable women more than the sushi itself, but that is a situation we see the world over and not unique to Nadeshiko. Yet with employees who have graduated from the Tokyo Sushi Academy, these men could not be more wrong.
Japan is a country that often adheres to longstanding and deeply held traditions, so it is understandable that such beliefs regarding the production and handling of sushi may still be around. That being said, not everyone is as tradition-bound as everyone else, and Nadeshiko has remained open for a number of years, so hopefully we are seeing signs that the superstitions and urban legends are not held by all, and that there is some positive change in the industry and its customers.
I have always been fascinated by the creation and culture of different foods, particularly sushi and sashimi in the modern era of Japanese cuisine. I am a classically trained chef and sushi connoisseur, also having operated a food service company and enjoy investigating and experimenting with food around the world.
I enjoyed your showing that, in this case as in many others, long-held traditions/beliefs have no basis in fact and defy a common sense approach.
I married a Japanese woman and we lived in Yokohama from 1972 to 1979 and due to the dollar collapsing in value to the yen, moved to the U S as my income was in US$.
I certainly never saw a female making sushi when living there or during visits in ensuing years.
As an example of how deep these traditions run, my wife flat out declared that no one in America could make good sushi unless they were Japanese immigrants or had apprenticed in Japan for years. It wouldn’t have mattered how good it was, she would have declared it inferior if made by non-Japanese or anyone not trained in Japan. I also don’t ever remember her commenting on no women in the business. That probably never entered her mind – it wasn’t even to be thot of.
Carl Torgerson
Longview WA
It’s amazing how so many deeply-rooted ideas that are totally inaccurate still exist all around the world. “Urban legends” and bizarre stories that make no sense if you stop to think about them. I *do* understand that very patriarchal cultures often have the strangest ideas about women that are often quite sexist, but particularly in our modern era, so many of them can be proven incorrect quite easily, but even then, cognitive dissonance is a terrible thing. I don’t know that I’ll ever stand humans, people are really odd, and, of course, for all too many, they will continue to believe what they want no matter how much evidence to the contrary one can present, Sigh.