Lately, whenever I scroll through my feed on Facebook, I see a new sushi mash-up. I’ve had enough. As hard as it is to admit, sometimes food shouldn’t just be about the Instagram-ability. It should be about functional and flavorful sustenance.
Sushi is so good in its traditional bite-sized form—we don’t need to keep changing it into something else, right? At this point, it’s been transformed into so many different things that it isn’t even sushi anymore. Here are five sushi mashups that I think have gone too far.
1. Sushi Pizza
Seriously, is this really sushi? Is this really pizza? What is it exactly? It’s a few pieces of fish and avocado on a tortilla. It’s basically just a fish taco laid out flat—not some new form of “sushi”. I don’t think that’s really sushi or pizza, and it’s definitely not as good as either food on their own.
2. Sushi Burrito
The sushi burrito, like the one at Sushirrito and other hotspots, is not as much of a stretch as the sushi pizza, so I’m not totally opposed to it. When I tried it, I had low expectations, but was pleasantly surprised. It was pretty easy to eat (a little bit too heavy for my personal liking), but I can see how if you’re just not feeling like eating one piece of sushi at a time, this might be a good alternative.
3. Temaki
Temaki, sort of looks like a combo of sushi and a taco, but it’s actually a traditional Japanese style of serving sushi. I tried this recently at Uma Temakeriai—these hand rolls are the perfect size, they’re not as heavy as a sushi burrito, yet still big enough to fill you up. Personally, I think that this is the only sushi shape on this list that’s actually worth your time. It’s perfect for a snack or a light meal, and tastes basically the same as the good old basic sushi.
4. Sushi Donut
Ok, this “donut” is pretty freaking beautiful. This fishy creation from Project Poke has been monopolizing my Insta feed—people have been freaking out about it. But how does one even eat this? It would just fall apart after the first bite and all of the toppings would just come off. Plus, the fish wouldn’t be artfully mixed with the avocado and other toppings, so each bite will only have one topping instead of a perfect combo. The sushi donut needs to be stopped before it becomes even trendier.
5. Sushi Burger
Last and maybe least, we have the sushi burger, like this one from Redeye Grill. The only thing that pops into my mind when I see this is… why? What is the point of this? You can’t even eat it with your hands because the rice is sticky and falls apart easily. So you end up just eating it with a fork and cutting it up into pieces which isn’t even how you would eat a real burger. There’s no seaweed wrap to keep it all together, so it’s basically just a fish and rice mush. No thank you.
I think it’s time for some of these sushi mash-ups to chill out a little, because I need a break. Even though a sushi donut and a sushi pizza are aesthetically pleasing, they just aren’t practical and don’t taste as good as a simple roll or hand roll. I’ll stick to the basics, thank you very much.