Can Jiro Ono of Dreams of Sushi Change the Image of Asian Carp?

Recently I read up on the history of sushi.  It looks like Asian Carp DNR and Great Lakes folks aren't the only ones who have forums.  It turns out that some of the highest ranking sushi chefs in Japan have also been invited to variety of forums to figure a way out for sustainable seafood.  Jiro Ono is the star of the documentary "Jiro Dreams of Sushi".  He is also the first to say that his employees won't be serving the same pristine fish in the future due to depletion.  

You see, in secret, Jiro is saying what people like the Sea Shepherd have been attacking sushi chefs for.  And that's sushi is causing huge extinction of some of the most important fish in the ocean.  I've said this in the past that the real reasons for the problem isn't Japan but rather that sushi is now a global food.  Is there enough fish to sustain some 7 billion people in the globe?  Probably not.

However, books have been published for decades talking about the ancient history of sushi.  We all know that sushi is Japanese, but it also originated from China.  During the Tang Dynasty in China, sushi evolved in Japan simultaneously.  Japan was a vegetarian state due to the national Buddhist religion.  After the realization that the Mongolian Empire and even the United States had better weapons and bigger soldiers, Japan turned to meat and fish.

It's this fact that Japan became a national fish state.  Oddly, it is the only nation on the planet that has fish as the national staple for food.  Most other nations will resort to meat or sometimes even game meat.

How does this tie in with Asian Carp?  It's simple, after researching sushi, I began to realize the entire ancient history of sushi revolves around carp.  Two books that were listed on Amazon showcases carp on the cover pages.

In fine fashion I just put invasive species and sustainable seafood in one category.  Why?  Because we all know that the Carp Czar and the DNR want Asian Carp gone or reduced.  And we all know that sushi is causing a downturn in population of every fish from Blue Fin Tuna to Unagi eel.   Those two species are on brink of becoming extinct commercially.

However, in general, we had the same issues with dozens of species.  Chilean Seabass and even Cod were on the brink of extinction due to over fishing.  The list goes on and on.   Yet, we refuse to realize that the pallet is the only way to move ahead with Asian Carp.  As well as any other invasive species.

So what are things that need to be done?  It's simple, Jiro Ono and maybe Iron Chef Morimoto, Chef Ming Tsai, Chef Nobu and Masa all need to be given a chance to create a dish out of Asian Carp.  Not only do they need to do this, they also need to have an endless supply of the fish alive.  This way, they can do whatever they want to proceed with a creation of a sushi for the American market.

What really matters is that the top chefs start to use and serve the fish in their pristine sushi houses.  Jiro may not be a choice since he lives in Tokyo, but the fact that he is already well known and is a national treasure makes it hard to ridicule nor question his use of carp.

Carp is the roots of Japanese sushi.  And it is still a main fish in China.  Those two things tell me that there is much room for growth for Asian Carp in the sushi kingdom.

I've yet to see carp served on a plate in my area.  However I do see carp every weekend at my local ethnic grocer.  They are almost always farmed carp and they are happily swimming in fish tanks clueless that they'll be eaten some day for dinner!

Knowing Jiro Ono's traditions for Edo-mae sushi, it's not a far stretch to go even farther back than the Edo period to create something with carp.  Carp is the origins of sushi and Jiro could make this work.

In the past I posted some articles on Chinese cuisine using Asian Carp, but there is a huge arena for Japanese cuisine as well.  Imagine an entire documentary on Asian Carp through the lens and scope of Jiro Ono?  The best sushi chef in the world?

The key here is using Jiro to bring back a tradition in Japan that never existed in the United States.  Carp sushi may sound strange but it wasn't long ago that sushi raw fish was strange in America...