Sorry Mesubim followers for not posting in the last months – I am back to Mesubim after taking a long break ! ….and I had my first sushi in 5 months!

“Whether you recognize climate change or not – you must know how the changes in the seas temperature are impacting not only taste, but quality and the quantity”

Yesterday I talking with a close friend who is a Tokyo based sushi master and he explained in the ‘last 50 years’ he has never seen so much change in fish supply. By the way, the day before the 2011 earthquake, there was no tuna available in his restaurant. This too was a first occurrence in his sushi career and so when there are anomalies – I tend to listen.

The seas are just too warm he explains, and in August supply of regular fish was very problematic with many fish unavailable, or offered in small quantities. The ebi, (shrimp) the edo styled shrimp (above photoed) has more than doubled in price and sushi was already reaching the top.

‘Changes in sea surface temperature are altering marine ecosystems affecting what species of plants, animals, and microbes are present in a location. They are altering migration and breeding patterns of all fish and especially tuna. These changes threaten sensitive ocean life and change the frequency and intensity of harmful algal blooms such as “red tide.” Over the long term, increases in sea surface temperature could also reduce the circulation patterns that bring nutrients from the deep sea to surface waters.’

The question is, how does it impact sushi globally – and the fact of the matter is that when we see fish like squid or small bluefish ‘kohada’ becoming more scarce, it will ultimately impact sushi lovers.

“We begin to see how the habitat impacts those very things we take for granted”

The fish picture pictured above was intensive in taste yet not very fatty and uncharacteristic in a way of ōtoro usual tastes – ōtoro is the fatty part of the belly and as fall begins the tuna’s belly develops more fat between the tissue: https://mesubim.com/?s=otoro

Generally speaking sushi is served as a journey in taste, known as Omakase and it is priced accordingly by averaging the lesser known fish (squids, horse mackerel) with the more commonly sought after Hon Maguro and Bafun uni: https://mesubim.com/?s=bafun All Sushi chefs serve Omakase their own ‘selection of fish’ to average the cost down – making the sushi experience more affordable for clients. Now we will see the average fish rising in price making the cost to consumers more than expected.

“For many sushi lovers beware the cost of sushi doubled in the last 2-years will continue to rise”

Overall, most if not all sushi chefs will be obliged to pass along the rising cost due to the fact that all fish are rising in price. You can imagine that a small fresh caught local squid can cost as much is $30 – which means that the direct cost without any overhead makes it prohibitively expensive. When I look back at how the supply chain is impacting all consumer goods, we begin to realize the changes in the future.

https://edition.cnn.com/2023/10/19/us/alaska-crabs-ocean-heat-climate/index.html