Sushi

Sushi is, at heart, seasoned rice: short-grain rice dressed with vinegar, sugar and salt, then paired with seafood and other toppings. Nigiri drapes a slice of fish over a hand-pressed finger of rice; maki rolls it in nori; sashimi is the fish alone. Served with wasabi, pickled ginger and soy.

Precision defines it — the temperature of the rice, the cut of the fish, the balance in a single bite.

Sushi began not as a fresh dish but as preservation: narezushi, fish fermented in rice, spread from Southeast Asia into Japan over a thousand years ago. The modern fast-food form, nigiri, was created in early-19th-century Edo (now Tokyo) by Hanaya Yohei, who served fresh fish over vinegared rice at his stall.

Refrigeration and global trade later turned sushi into an international phenomenon, and in 2013 "washoku" — traditional Japanese cuisine — was inscribed on UNESCO's heritage list, with sushi among its most celebrated expressions.