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They weren't flying in salt water fish to North Dakota in 1905. And so their sushi was probAbly local fresh water fish. They probably all got worms, or maybe e

They weren't flying in salt water fish to North Dakota in 1905. And so their sushi was probAbly local fresh water fish. They probably all got worms, or maybe even had worms to begin with. The freshwater clam lifecycle is one of the more complicated life cycles and interesting.

jfoutz 11y ago
There was a french colonel who was a rival of Teddy Roosevelt when Roosevelt was raising cattle out west. I don't recall his name, and my google fu is failing me. Anyway. One of the colonel's enterprises was a stagecoach line to take salmon from Seattle to New York on ice in 7 days. So, anything's possible.
jff 11y ago
Salt water fish could possibly have made the trip via train from Seattle, packed on ice, although I'd expect it to be rather expensive. Smoked salmon also makes very tasty sushi if fresh isn't available. Tamago is an option that might appeal to a reluctant North Dakotan. Oh, and salmon can be found in some waters of North Dakota; I don't know if they're landlocked or what, but that's an option too.
- mjevans 11y ago
  Salmon makes for /very/ tasty sushi (I prefer the nigiri variety).
- ethbro 11y ago
  Even in the early 1900s, as far as I can tell people living in North Dakota would likely not have been unfamiliar with interesting seafood (or at least had neighbors who were). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_emigration_to_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_emigration_to_the_Un...
  - comrade1 11y ago
    As part of the ancestry of that Swedish immigration wave to the Midwest, all I know of is lutefisk, which is by no means sushi. It's about the most vile thing you can imagine - dried cod turned to fish jello in lye. You can smell it from miles away when it's being cooked, and... well, the smell is worse than the taste, but to think of equating that with sushi... I don't think you can even call it seafood.
    - kevin_thibedeau 11y ago
      > It's about the most vile thing you can imagine Surströmming beats lutefisk for that title.
      - notNow 11y ago
        Wait to try or smell Fisikh[1] and you'll change your mind instantly. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fesikh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fesikh and pronounced like this "Fisíj" borrowing from Spanish
    - cc81 11y ago
      Lutfisk does not taste much at all and can be pretty decent if prepared properly. You generally want some strong tasting condiment to it like fresh ground black pepper on it though.
tcdent 11y ago
Sounds like they either imported or imitated a lot of other Japanese stuff based on the content of that first news clipping. Sure, they're not going to find it locally available, but I don't see why it would be impossible for someone wealthy to get what they wanted.
- comrade1 11y ago
  Even a wealthy person in 1905 couldn't get fresh fish from the ocean. The Wright brothers didn't even fly until 1903. And the train from either coast would be a couple of weeks. As someone else mentioned, it was probably tamago, or maybe beef. Or maybe even local fish but pickled, which would have gone with the vinegar rice. Or maybe they used local fish raw and just risked getting worms.
  - waterlesscloud 11y ago
    In 1905 trains were crossing the continent in 4-5 days. North Dakota was likely 2 days or so by rail from the Pacific Ocean.
  - ska 11y ago
    Or maybe they froze it, like most sushi now? That would take care of the risk of worms. They had freezers available in 1905 - no idea how widespread.
    - comrade1 11y ago
      That makes sense. Assuming they had freezer cars on the trains. Or I guess you could try freezing the freshwater fish, or holding it at a temp close to freezing for awhile.
    - waterlesscloud 11y ago
      Shipping food by refrigerated rail was quite common in 1905. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator_car https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator_car
  - spqr0a1 11y ago
blakeja 11y ago
Trout makes pretty good sushi, plenty of that up there.
blakeja 11y ago
Also re: worms, I've been fishing most of my life and other than some swampy places like Louisiana or some mucky looking rivers/lakes, worms have never been a problem? Could be biased, I do most of my fishing in the Colorado rockies and have not had problems with worms there.
deleted 11y ago
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jfoutz 11y ago

There was a french colonel who was a rival of Teddy Roosevelt when Roosevelt was raising cattle out west. I don't recall his name, and my google fu is failing me. Anyway. One of the colonel's enterprises was a stagecoach line to take salmon from Seattle to New York on ice in 7 days. So, anything's possible.

jff 11y ago

Salt water fish could possibly have made the trip via train from Seattle, packed on ice, although I'd expect it to be rather expensive. Smoked salmon also makes very tasty sushi if fresh isn't available. Tamago is an option that might appeal to a reluctant North Dakotan. Oh, and salmon can be found in some waters of North Dakota; I don't know if they're landlocked or what, but that's an option too.

mjevans 11y ago
Salmon makes for /very/ tasty sushi (I prefer the nigiri variety).
ethbro 11y ago
Even in the early 1900s, as far as I can tell people living in North Dakota would likely not have been unfamiliar with interesting seafood (or at least had neighbors who were). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_emigration_to_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_emigration_to_the_Un...
- comrade1 11y ago
  As part of the ancestry of that Swedish immigration wave to the Midwest, all I know of is lutefisk, which is by no means sushi. It's about the most vile thing you can imagine - dried cod turned to fish jello in lye. You can smell it from miles away when it's being cooked, and... well, the smell is worse than the taste, but to think of equating that with sushi... I don't think you can even call it seafood.
  - kevin_thibedeau 11y ago
    > It's about the most vile thing you can imagine Surströmming beats lutefisk for that title.
    - notNow 11y ago
      Wait to try or smell Fisikh[1] and you'll change your mind instantly. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fesikh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fesikh and pronounced like this "Fisíj" borrowing from Spanish
  - cc81 11y ago
    Lutfisk does not taste much at all and can be pretty decent if prepared properly. You generally want some strong tasting condiment to it like fresh ground black pepper on it though.

tcdent 11y ago

Sounds like they either imported or imitated a lot of other Japanese stuff based on the content of that first news clipping. Sure, they're not going to find it locally available, but I don't see why it would be impossible for someone wealthy to get what they wanted.

comrade1 11y ago
Even a wealthy person in 1905 couldn't get fresh fish from the ocean. The Wright brothers didn't even fly until 1903. And the train from either coast would be a couple of weeks. As someone else mentioned, it was probably tamago, or maybe beef. Or maybe even local fish but pickled, which would have gone with the vinegar rice. Or maybe they used local fish raw and just risked getting worms.
- waterlesscloud 11y ago
  In 1905 trains were crossing the continent in 4-5 days. North Dakota was likely 2 days or so by rail from the Pacific Ocean.
- ska 11y ago
  Or maybe they froze it, like most sushi now? That would take care of the risk of worms. They had freezers available in 1905 - no idea how widespread.
  - comrade1 11y ago
    That makes sense. Assuming they had freezer cars on the trains. Or I guess you could try freezing the freshwater fish, or holding it at a temp close to freezing for awhile.
  - waterlesscloud 11y ago
    Shipping food by refrigerated rail was quite common in 1905. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator_car https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator_car
- spqr0a1 11y ago

blakeja 11y ago

Trout makes pretty good sushi, plenty of that up there.

blakeja 11y ago

Also re: worms, I've been fishing most of my life and other than some swampy places like Louisiana or some mucky looking rivers/lakes, worms have never been a problem? Could be biased, I do most of my fishing in the Colorado rockies and have not had problems with worms there.

deleted 11y ago

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