European Russia
Colin made a suggestion. “An Irish friend of mine, Danny, is
manager of a big restaurant called Angara. There’s a sushi
bar there too. I’m going to ask Danny to treat you to a
mountain of sushi.” The next day rows of sushi appeared on
the bar in front of me including salmon, prawn, eel,
mackerel, salad roll, squid and salmon roe. Alongside there
was ikura (salmon roe), incidentally, being a Russian word,
tuna rolls, assorted sashimi and miso soup. To my surprise
the nigirizuzhi were priced per piece!
The squid nigiri was exorbitantly expensive, but the
quality of the fish in Russian fishmongers was generally
pitiful, and the fish markets stank to high heaven. As S? had
pointed out in Irkutsk, Russians did not eat much fish, ‘Fish
was for cats’. The land was so vast, one simply couldn’t get
hold of fresh fish. Which naturally explains why the fresh
fish used for sushi was so expensive.
(from "Against the Wind" - Poolbeg Press)
