The sushi bowl is a strange design of cubed seafoods on top of sushi rice with sashimi toppings that are garnished with vegetables. As many bowls it is hard to trace exactly whom was the first to make it. There could have been those who had left over sushi rice who happened to make a leftovers bowl with poke on top, or a restaurant might have taken it to new heights, and exactly when will always remain mysteriously unknown. But, before the Sushi Bowl became into fashion there were many Hawaii kama’aina who had an urge for poke that fueled people's needs for a meal.
One would have thought that this would have ended with the invention of the Poke Bowl. A bowl ended up popping out of the Poke Bowl trend on the mainland from definitions of a Poke Bowl. The poke bowl has always been around, so a lot of locals already have their idea of what it is and had other bowls come out of trying to define it. The idea was simple in the typical process people enjoy their poke as they take it away in its own individual container. The idea of eating poke would be to get some poke with sauce and take a bite, then eat some rice, and add some condiments, except in the case of the bowl it puts all the elements together conveniently in one place. Many Kaiten Sushi and Fast Food Sushi restaurants followed the idea by making their own pokes and putting it on top of sushi rice, but the taste wasn’t that of a Poke Bowl and was nicknamed Sushi Bowls for the sushi rice. It would really be placed in its category when Lance Yamamoto who helped develop Kuru Kuru Sushi and Sushi Bay had a variation that had a layer of sushi rice, a layer of fish eggs and sweet egg bits, a layer of two sushi toppings, and topped with two slices of sashimi, thinly sliced onion, and green onion garnish. When people think of a “Sushi Donburi” or “Sushi Bowl” they imagine the type of flavors that come from this type of creation. As customers had taken a liking to the different combinations of the Sushi Bowl there are specific types of fishes that were used that gained popularity. Local tastes guided the bowls development with its taste for particular sushi like: Shoyu Onion Poke, Sesame Shoyu Poke, Spicy Poke, Creamy Poke, and Sashimi. Combinations would use Cubed Seafood, Negitoro Seafood, and Mixed Seafood. A few examples might be: Ahi Tuna, Shoyu Onion Ahi, Sesame Shoyu Ahi, Spicy Ahi Tuna, Negitoro Ahi, Hamachi, Shoyu Onion Hamachi, Spicy Hamachi, Negitoro Hamachi, Salmon, Negitoro Salmon, Creamy Salmon, Spicy Salmon, Bay Scallop Mayo, Spicy Bay Scallop, and Ocean Salad. As the ingredients may be from port sources of Japan, Alaska, and the United States it makes sense why many of the ingredients would be used from the history of immigrants in the plantation era and the adaptation of many Japanese dishes to take advantage of the techniques and use them for Hawaii locals favorite flavors. High costs of seafood made it difficult for Hawaii Kama’aina to consume these expensive bowls. The people who could afford them usually had saved the occasion for something special or once a week as a slightly pricey date, but when eating the Sushi Bowls it was very enjoyable to get such a treat of seafood. Regardless of its price the popularity of the bowls were growing rapidly with places which had them growing a cult following. Based on the ideology of Hawaii eating of more food than one can simply eat in a single meal in a bowl, stretched rice with widespread food, and being delicious in a hot climate made the dish all the more appealing to those who ate it by giving it the Hawaii dish feel. With variations growing from demand, the types of poke and toppings that are being made are beginning to differentiate themselves from the typical poke bar and moving in a different direction. While still sticking to pokes beginnings of being cubed the variations of negitoro and a wider range of ingredients that work well with the sweet and sour taste of sushi rice is forming a different type of food identity for Sushi Bowls. The focus will surely be less on the individual poke and more on the idea of Sushi Bowl as things start to be more clear as the idea of Sushi Bowls part in Hawaii Cuisine.
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