Sushi

[daughtercell]

Okay, so this is less a post about cooking food than it is one about consuming it. :D

My boyfriend is rather obsessed with sushi, to the point of wanting to try a sushi-only restaurant sometime very soon. The problem is that due to my disability, my jaw opening is extremely small--to the tune of less than half an inch of space between my top and bottom teeth at its widest. This makes eating sushi very messy, embarrassing, and miserable for me. However, I do like the taste of it pretty well and would eat more if I could just get it in my damn mouth.

I'm still pretty novice in the kitchen and can barely throw together common (American) meals very well, much less trying to experiment with more exotic things, so I've never tried to make my own sushi (I guess you can do that?). I'm wondering if any of you who might be more familiar with it would know if it's possible to make even more bite-sized sushi (either the rolls or the other kind... my boyfriend would laugh at my ignorance :) ) so that I could actually fit it all in my mouth in one piece?

Thanks in advance!

Comments

[0jack]

I made sushi with my daughter when she was younger. I don't see why a roll couldn't be thinly sliced or other sushi assembled "tiny". I wonder if teeny sushi hasn't been done before, because, so cute. :)

[jadelennox]

I bet you could make some wee nigiri (fish on rice) and certainly sashimi (plain raw fish), but rolls would be very difficult. Maybe Chirashi would be easiest?

[kake]

The "other kind" is called nigiri :)

I also have trouble eating most nigiri in one bite, though this is (probably?) due to having a fairly small mouth rather than to problems with jaw opening. I like to sit at the sushi bar in restaurants, rather than at a table, because then I can talk to the sushi chef and explain that I prefer a smaller bite. A good sushi chef will figure out the best size to make the nigiri for each individual customer; when you order at the bar, you usually order a few pieces at a time rather than everything at once, and so the chef can adjust as you go along. (Not all restaurants have sushi bars though; some of them have the chef hidden away in a kitchen. It tends to be the more expensive ones that have sushi bars.)

There's a place here in London that specialises in what they call "canape sushi"; this is a smaller version of nigiri. Here's their website, and there's a photo of their canape sushi on the front page. I don't know how widespread this trend is, but at least the term might give you something to google for.

As for rolls (maki), look out for hosomaki; these are thinner in diameter than futomaki (I can't eat a piece of futomaki in one bite, but hosomaki are fine). Hosomaki are usually cut into 6 pieces per roll, but you could ask for them to be cut into more pieces (8?), which would make them smaller again.

I hope this helps!

[alumiere]

I second this; even if you don't sit at the sushi bar, call ahead or ask to talk to the chef and let him/her know you cannot handle full size bites. Since almost all sushi is made to order, accommodating your limitation should be no problem.

I'm deathly allergic to things that are grown in h2o - not just seafood, but seaweed, etc make me sick. And I can't have wheat, so no tempura either. But my best friends and partners all love sushi, and I've found that if I give them advance warning they'll prepare fresh veggies and maybe beef tataki for me, no problem.

[somewhatbent]

That sushi place looks AWESOME!! Here in Seattle there's a tiny little hole in the wall place (maybe 4 tables) that accommodates all manner of special requests beautifully. (like going for sushi with someone allergic to anything that swims)

[mdlbear]

Yes, you can make your own sushi, and make it any size you like.

For rolls (maki), just slice the roll into more pieces.

For nigiri, use less rice (or slice your nigiri into short pieces; it's certainly not the traditional way to do it, but if you're at home, who cares?)

[fred_mouse]

From an Australian perspective (no idea how it generalizes) I have found that restaurants are likely to make much smaller rolls than lunch bars. One of the places that we typically go makes rolls that are about two cm in diameter, and about three cm long. This works out at quite a bit more filling than rice, which might be why it is a restaurant thing. Unfortunately, I don't think that they use any different terminology.