The Restaurant Serves “White Tuna”

If your sushi restaurant lists “white tuna” on the menu, that should raise a red flag for you. For one thing, there is no such fish as white tuna, so you don’t know what you’re actually getting when you order. In some better restaurants, you’ll be getting albacore tuna. In others, you’ll be served a fish called escolar, or snake mackerel, whose indigestible, waxy ester, called gempylotoxin, can cause cramping, diarrhea, or anal leakage an average of 2.5 hours after consumption. Other people may also experience nausea, vomiting and headaches.

In some countries, escolar has been banned for sale because of the side effects associated with its consumption, but it is still for sale in the United States, although the FDA advises against its sale and distribution.

The Restaurant Doesn’t Have An Itamae

In Japan, becoming an itamae of sushi requires up to 20 years of job training and apprenticeship. After about five years of training, the apprentice is given the opportunity to prepare the sushi rice on his own for the first time - an important ingredient prepared differently by every master chef, with a closely-guarded recipe that is passed down to the apprentice.

Once the apprentice has mastered the daily preparation of sushi rice, he may be promoted to a “wakiita” - which translates to “near the cutting board.” At this point, the apprentice is involved in the preparation of the restaurant’s ingredients, including blocks of fish, ginger, and scallions. He or she may also become involved with taking orders and interacting with customers. After several more years of this, the apprentice will be given the title of itamae, or “in front of the cutting board.”

While having a fully trained itamae isn’t necessarily a requirement for a good sushi experience, a restaurant that has one as the head sushi chef will almost guarantee that you’ll be enjoying your meals.