Trying sushi for the first time? Read on…

1. Start with cooked sushi. Although people usually relate sushi with raw fish, there are actually a wide variety of sushi dishes. There are shrimp, octopus, clam, and crab meat, which can all be cooked. Aside from that, there is what you call California rolls, where the main ingredients are sticky rice with cucumber or avocado among others.

2. Eat what you are familiar with. You might want to try out the scallops or squid first, before eating something new like sashimi and raw tuna. Actually, the taste of these foods when eaten as sushi is the same when cooked, only the texture will be different.

3. Avoid eating sushi with intense flavors. Mackerel is a tough choice if you are trying sushi for the first time. It has a pungent odor and taste which can be overwhelming to first-time sushi eaters.

4. Don’t put too much wasabi on your sushi. Beginners may think they can handle a lot of wasabi on their sushi, but honestly, they really can’t. Wasabi is the green condiment made from horseradish, and it’s very, very hot. Especially if you have a low tolerance for spicy foods, a small amount of wasabi will go a long way.

5. Don’t force yourself to use chopsticks. Some people think that eating sushi means using chopsticks as a utensil. If you don’t know how to eat with them, the sushi might slip, wasting money and causing needless frustration. If you really want to use chopsticks, practice at home or just make sure that there’s a plate to catch the food when it slips.

6. Drink beer or tea with your sushi. This is because sushi has lots of oil in it and the best way to down it is by drinking beer or tea. Sake, a Japanese beer, is probably the best drink when eating sushi because of its complementary taste. Sake, hot or cold, will keep the sushi tasting nice and not overly fishy in your mouth. You can use Walmart deals to get alcohol for a cheap price, otherwise, this can all quickly get expensive.

7. Eat the gari or pickled ginger in between a sushi piece. Doing so will help you taste the full extent of the sushi flavour. You should do this when eating different types of sushi. Example, if at first, you ate sashimi, the tuna roll won’t taste quite as good without ginger in between because of the clashing flavors. To balance it out, eat the pickled ginger, which is usually included whenever you buy sushi dishes.

8.Be open-minded to other types of sushi. Even if you didn’t like one sushi dish, it doesn’t mean that all kinds have the same taste. There are so many different flavors with sushi that you have to try a wide variety of dishes before coming to any conclusion about which sushi is right for you.