Shiro Kashiba (left) and Daisuke Nakazawa

I hope you don’t mind, but I wanted to deviate from the usual recipe with this blog post to talk a little bit about sushi.

On Nov. 3, my friends and I went to an event, “How To Eat Sushi The Expert Way: Featuring Master Sushi Chef Shiro Kashiba.” The event was held at Nagomi Tea House in Seattle’s International District (which is a very unique and rich geographical area that comprises, mainly, of Chinatown, Little Saigon, and Japantown) and organized by the Hokubei Hochi Foundation.

The event featured a history lesson on sushi, a primer on how to properly eat sushi, and samplings of Chef Shiro’s work alongside some sake.

In the 1960s, Shiro was mentored by Michelin-starred Chef Jiro Ono, which you may know from the documentary Jiro Dreams of Sushi. Shiro made his way across the Pacific and settled in Seattle, really pioneering the sushi culture here and becoming renowned himself.