The history of sushi is a great mystery. Legend has it that an old woman once
hid a pot of rice for fear that bandits would steal it and eat it. After a few days, the woman returned to find that the rice had fermented and a bird had dropped in a few pieces of fish; thus,sushi was born.

Many people mistakenly think that sushi refers to the fish that sits on the
rice, but in reality, it’s the exact opposite. The word sushi is actually describing the seasoned rice on which the fish sits. The Japanese are credited with the creation of sushi in the form we know today, but the combination of fermented rice with fish has been consumed all across Asia for thousands of years. 

As time went on and cities and populations grew, merchants needed to find a way to speed up preparation. The sushi of thepast might have taken up to six months to ferment, and cooks did not have the time or the storage space to hold the rice for that long. The fish used originally also had to ferment, leading to a lengthy process before the fish could be eaten.

In the 1820s, the Japanese began adding rice vinegar to help speed up fermentation. The rice was also rolled by hand to give it a nice smooth shape. A thin layer of freshly caught fish was then placed on top of the rice, creating what is known today as
nigirizushi.

Originally seen as fast street food, sushi vendors began abandoning their mobile carts and opening restaurants instead. By the 1950s, sushi was a popular cuisine throughout Japan; and by the 1960s, sushi had made its way to the United States.

In 1966, the first sushi restaurant
in America opened in in the Little Tokyo district of Los Angeles.
The Kawafuku Restaurant did incredibly well and created a sushi craze throughout the US.