Sushi Eating Etiquette

[Debyule]

Another good first time sushi is yellowtail.  It's mild and more firm than tuna and salmon.  Red Snapper is also a good first choice but I think it's mainly a regional thing (I'm in Texas).
I've never been a big fan of rolls but the sushi place we frequent had a new one this weekend - Kudu roll.  It had avacado, cucumber, yellowtail and garlic aoli, surrounded by the seaweed, rice and kudu - which is flying fish roe, as it turns out.  It was delicious!  I've been craving it all weekend.
Whenever I try a new sushi or roll, I make sure I have saki on hand because I've found if you try something that you can't stand the taste of, a quick bit of saki will overpower the taste and you'll be able to go back to what you DO like.

[Alida]

There are four main styles - handroll, which looks like an ice cream cone made of seaweed, maki, which are the little cylindrical ones, sushi, which is a small chunk of the rice with the fish on top, and sashimi, which is plain raw fish.  (This is common parlance, but to be accurate, 'sushi' is the name for the rice/vinegar combination)

The little chunk of rice with fish on top is called nigiri sushi and the handroll is temaki sushi.  I have the darndest time with temaki! 

Hamachi (yellowtail) is my absolute favorite to start people off with, it's so nice and light.  Sushi Samba serves a yellowtail sashimi plate with a lemongrass/jalapeno sauce that is definitely NOT enough to share

Modified because I decided, for whatever weird reason, to use a hyphen in yellowtail!

[Alida]

I agree with salmon and tuna being good starts for raw fish.  Also, you may like fish raw you don't like cooked, so don't NOT try based on not liking a cooked fish.  For example, I'm not a big mackerel fan when it's cooked, but the sushi version is pretty good, to me.

DD hates fish when it's cooked, but she'll eat her way through an aquarium's worth of raw fish!

[Alida]

DH and I do sushi every week with friends.  We were watching either the food network or the travel channel the other day and heard the same thing about how one does not dip the sushi in soy/wasabi and sushi is eaten with fingers.  That is something that is done only in America and other countries.

Personally, I say that if you like the soy sauce and wasabi, then go for it.  I figure if they are going to give me that stuff, then they are giving it to me to use and not to do so would be rude  .

I do not mix the wasabi with the soy, I prefer to add a dab of wasabi to the roll and sometimes dip the fish into the soy.  However, DH learned to mix his wasabi and soy in Nagano, while eating with his liaison, who was born and raised in the area, and came from one of the bigger sake-producing families.

[dragonflies]

The Eel is so yummy - it is actually sweet.  DF wouldn't try eel b/c it was eel.  Finally got him to try some and he loved it.

I eat it with my fingers - it is supposed to be finger food.