Japanese restaurants invited to win approval of the sushi police

It may look like sushi, taste like sushi and wriggle like sushi, but for the gourmet in London, Paris or New York, the question remains: just how Japanese is this raw fish?

Officials in Tokyo are offering a worldwide “authenticity screen” for restaurants that purport to be Japanese. The scheme, they say, may lead to an equivalent of the Michelin star system for the world’s 25,000 Japanese restaurants. The kitchens of these establishments will soon be visited by teams of experts, run under the auspices of Japan’s Ministry of Agriculture, who will assess the provenance of ingredients and how far they offer a real taste of Japan.

The origins of the wasabi horse-radish (preferably from the Izu peninsula), miso paste (preferably from the Nagano mountains) and pickled ginger (preferably from Tochigi) will all be scrutinised. Rice is expected to be the most frequent area of failure: a true sushi master will insist on Japanese koshihikari rice grown in Japan.

The same variety grown in California might, just, be acceptable. Faux pas may include serving Chinese soy sauce, or miso soup in a porcelain cup.

Establishments that serve genuine Japanese food will receive a seal of authenticity to act as an assurance of high quality. The seal will be useful for those drawn to the food’s health benefits, which depend on the genuineness of ingredients, particularly the fish and the tofu.

When asked to explain how health benefits could be linked to the type of food that causes the most deaths and illnesses worldwide due to the freshness of the fare as opposed to how authentic it might be, Tokyo officials stressed that bona fide sushi rarely kills those dining in first-world nations, and that gastronomic pleasure should always outweigh the possibility of disfigurement or even death, such as the true Samurai code demands.