The Connoisseur's Guide to Sushi: Everything You Need to Know About Sushi Varieties and Accompaniments, Etiquette and Dining Tips and More

Dave Lowry is an incredibly knowledgeable martial artist and prolific author who also happens to be a food critic. This is outstanding book is the logical concatenation of his numerous talents, a true A-to-Z guide to everything you need to know about sushi including what to eat, how to eat it, and what to drink with what you eat. It covers the rice, types of sushi you can obtain, toppings, fillings, condiments, utensils, accompaniments, etiquette, and more. The 300+ pages are packed with interesting and useful information to keep you from embarrassing yourself and make your dining experience more enjoyable. The "watch for," "trivia," and "ask the itamae" call-outs are really neat features.The book is broken into three parts. Part one covers everything about the sushi itself including rice, nigiri sushi (hand-pressed), maki sushi (wrapped or rolled), chirashi sushi (scattered), oshi sushi (pressed), tane (toppings), gu (fillings), and nori (seaweed). Part two is an in-depth primer of the various types of fish used for sushi. Part three explains the practice and etiquette of eating sushi, including condiments, drinks, utensils, accoutrements and furnishings, the itamae (sushi chef), and sushi ritual.The only bad thing about this otherwise outstanding book is that it has no pictures. I'm still giving it five stars because the content is so good, but it would have been even better with color photos of the various types of fish and pictures or drawings of the other items he refers to that many readers will not be familiar with. Regardless, as with all of Lowry's books it is comprehensive, easy to read, filled with interesting vignettes, and very useful. I was first introduced to sushi (and sashimi) at a judo tournament in 1972, yet I learned a lot I did not already know in this fine tome. If you are into sushi you've got to buy this book!Lawrence KaneAuthor of Surviving Armed Assaults, The Way of Kata, and Martial Arts Instruction

As a previous reviewer mentioned, these 300 pages could be condensed down to about 20 of actual useful information. The rest is just the authors extremely annoying commentary. I cannot even read this.

this is an great book for the sushi lover. elevate youself beyond just the average sushi eater and be come a connoisseur (or snob. like as a wine snob/drinker)

While entertaining, Lowry uses indexes and chapter headings that make the book appear (on Amazon at least...) to be a usable reference text. It is not.

Lots of interesting and valuable information. Nice to know the traditional Japanese ways of sushi as it's gotten so Americanized over the years.

ok

Mr. Lowry seems to be most interested in impressing us with his knowledge and believes that his readers want to become snobs. Most of us are never going to eat sushi in Japan, much less in the men's club type of sushi restaurant where competition is supreme. We will eat sushi in our American neighborhood restaurants, where there is no one to impress, because no one cares. However, under all the ego, there is useful information. It is incredibly irritating to find it, since Mr. Lowry also can't stick to a subject for more than a few sentences, before he wanders off into another story to prove his innate superiority. Maybe Mr. Lowry would consider issuing a pocket guide, which omits the fluff and leaves only the useful information about how to select sushi, how to know if the fish or seafood is fresh, what condiments belong with each fish, and other such facts.

The absurdity of doing a book about how to be a sushi snob and then not having ONE SINGLE photo in the book makes this utterly laughable. Ya know - the old - SHOW don't TELL thing. Totally irrelevant because of this.