Food - Drink
Why Restaurants Pair Sushi With Ginger And How To Eat It Properly
By HOPE NGO
The pickled ginger slices served with sushi are called gari in Japanese, and belong to a larger family of pickles (tsukemono) commonly offered at Japanese meals.
The ginger refreshes the palate and amps up the flavor of the sushi, but it's not meant to be a sushi topping. The proper way to eat gari is in between bites as a palate cleanser.
Chef Nobu Matsuhisa says, "After you have eaten a piece of sushi with tuna, for example, and you want to eat sushi with salmon, you eat the ginger because it cleans the mouth.
"Then you can try the next piece without confusing the flavors," Matushisa adds. "Ginger is not meant to be eaten with sushi in the same mouthful."
In addition to being packed with flavor, ginger also helps with digestion, which will come in handy if your tummy isn't accustomed to raw fish.