I want to say it’s some reason a long the lines of “it was masterfully creafted in such a way that the only best experience is to eat the whole thing at once, and to do otherwise is to insinuate a lack of respect”, with the disclaimer that I don’t actually know if that’s what it is.
I think a good display of respect and that you enjoyed something, is to finish your plate. But that doesn’t mean you got to swallow everything at once?!
As I understand it, sushi in this context is specifically made to be a single bite.
Yeah I was confused by that part, too. I have always eaten sushi in a few bites. Maybe I’m a big pale skinned dickhead.
You’re probably right. I think the form factor is mainly due to sushi being finger food. And Japanese people seem to like bite-sized food anyways. I mean they don’t hand you a knife in the first place so there wouldn’t be any way to cut your food even if you wanted.
I’m not an expert on sushi either. And I wonder if it really has a long tradition of how it’s supposed to be done. I suppose what we deem authentic are relatively new inventions. Like conveyor-belt restaurants aren’t from the 18hundreds. And they certainly didn’t eat raw salmon before refrigerators were commonplace.