I can’t imagine a world without sushi, nor do I want to. On the contrary, I love Japanese cuisine. What’s my proof? I spend a considerable amount of my income to ensure that all the Japanese eateries in my neighbourhood stay in business. Then why ask this question? It comes from fear.
Have you ever imagined what the world will look like in, say, 50 years? Imagine your grandchildren or great-grandchildren visiting you from the future because they’re curious about things they can only read about but never see, taste, or touch.
Olli looked up from his laptop. He saw a young man standing in front of his office door, looking both sheepish and excited. He bore a resemblance to someone Olli knew, but he couldn’t quite place it. But he knew he’d never met him before. Anyway, the young man looked harmless, so Olli’s (non-existent) guard was down. Olli asked, “Who are you? And how did you get in?”
The young man looked relieved and smiled. “I’m Elli. Hmm…. I actually came from around here.”
Without fully understanding what that even meant, Olli replied, “No. Interesting. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around. Do you need something?” Olli could never resist the urge to be helpful, despite desperately hating to be disturbed at basically any point of his day.
The young man took the question as an invitation to engage and nodded immediately. “I would like to invite you out for sushi.”
Olli paused for a second, his brain scrambling for a polite way to say “bugger off, invite someone you know.” He was going to say, “Unfortunately, I’m expecting a call from the Prime Minister. Or, I really ought to stay home and clean the bathroom today,” but he was also intrigued by the invitation. After all, why did this complete stranger just show up at his office and invite him for sushi? And should he still be mad that the guy just waltzed into his house without permission? It felt like they were past the point where he could be mad and question him about that. After all, Elli had politely invited him out for a meal, and Olli had always liked sushi.
Elli seemed to sense the internal debate raging in Olli’s head. He approached two steps closer and said, “I just would like to try sushi for the first time with someone I feel comfortable around.”
This somehow warmed Olli’s heart more than he wanted to admit. He still had so many unanswered questions, but he decided to say yes anyway, figuring he’d try to satisfy his curiosity during the meal. Olli told the young man to wait by the front door while he went to get dressed. It wasn’t like he was naked. For Olli, “getting dressed” meant putting on an ironed shirt and brushing his teeth. Yes, Olli never left the house without wearing an ironed shirt and brushing his teeth.
They sat down at a sushi restaurant near Olli’s house. It was one of those restaurants where you could choose what you wanted to order from a tablet. There were lots of different types of sushi, with names in a mix of English and Japanese that most people just knew by heart, not by meaning. That’s why there were typically also lots of pictures next to the names.
Olli passed the tablet to the young man and said, “You go first. Pick what you like.”
The young man grabbed the tablet and began to scroll through the menu, looking both confused and excited — the way a kindergartener would when given a tablet to order for the first time. After a while, right when even Olli was starting to think, it’s taking him long enough, what a picky eater, and aren’t all sushi menus nearly the same anyway? the young man looked up suddenly and said, “Could you please pick for me? I would have what you like to eat.”
Taken aback, Olli said, “No. Really? I can do that.”
The waitress began to serve the food. Two long rectangular plates, each with 10 pieces of assorted sushi, were laid in front of Olli and Elli. Olli began to pick up his chopsticks, poured a bit of soy sauce into his saucer, and then picked up the first piece with his chopsticks. Before he put the food in his mouth, he saw that Elli was watching him intently.
Olli lost a bit of his patience and asked, “What’s the problem? Do you want this one?” He pointed at his sushi.
Elli immediately said, “I just want to observe and do it right.” He immediately picked up his own chopsticks and tried to mimic Olli, but failed spectacularly.
Olli resisted the urge to give a lecture on proper chopstick etiquette. Some battles, he knew, were best left unfought. Olli laughed and said, ”No. That’s why. You aren’t good at chopsticks. You should have just said so. They can give you a knife and fork. There’s no shame in that. They even have training chopsticks if you want to learn.”
A moment later, a set of knife and fork arrived, and Elli put his first piece of sushi in his mouth. It was a raw salmon nigiri. If it wasn’t because Elli was the one who invited him to sushi, Olli would have sworn that he didn’t like sushi at all. Elli’s face went through a series of rapid transformations: curiosity, anticipation, mild disgust, and finally, a look of profound disappointment. It was like watching a culinary horror movie in fast-forward.
At this point, Olli put down his chopsticks and asked, “Why did you invite me for sushi? I would have imagined a young man like you could have eaten with your friends or family. And do you even like sushi?” Suddenly, Olli recalled that Elli had said he wanted to try sushi for the first time with someone he felt comfortable around. Before Elli could answer, Olli added, “Is it really true that this is your first time eating sushi? Why do you feel so comfortable around me? After all,” Olli thought, it’s not really normal, is it, to feel comfortable around someone you’ve never met before?
Elli snorted with a laugh and said, “You’re exactly how Dad described you: eccentric but always polite.” Before Olli could protest about the word “eccentric”, Elli added, “Yes, it is my first time eating sushi. Where I came from, you can’t eat the fish raw or cooked anymore. I must admit, the thought of eating raw fish is quite revolting, so, now that I have tried, this isn’t something I’ll feel like I’m missing out on. And… actually, I have met you before. Very briefly, when I was a baby. But you haven’t met me yet.”
Olli was confused. For a man proud of his own common sense, he thought deeply: Where could Elli have come from that fish can’t be eaten raw or cooked? Why? Why can’t they import some fish to eat? And then, what riddle is that — that he has met Olli, but Olli hasn’t met him yet? He had a theory, but he was too dignified to even say it out loud. It is simply ridiculous.
He looked up, and Elli immediately knew that he had guessed. Elli said, “I flipped through our family’s old pictures, and so many of our great memories centred around food, and sushi seems to be one of your favourites. When we finally have the time travel technology and leisure use is legalised, I knew I needed to try it. The world I lives, we can’t swim in the sea or eat any fish or seafood anymore because it’s…. well, what you’d say, ‘yucky.’ There are no sushi restaurants. I was really curious about it. Hence, I travelled 60 years back in time to invite you for sushi. The only way I would feel safe trying something that were never safe to me — was to try it with someone I feel safe to be around, like my own family, with you, my Great-granddad.”