Although freshness is an integral factor for sushi, deliveries of the dish have been a common practice almost since its inception. Do you find that surprising? Let’s take a look at the history of sushi delivery and how it was able to be delivered.

Sushi Delivery Has Been Around Since the Edo Period?!

The creation of sushi and sushi restaurants can be traced back to the Edo period in Tokyo. More so than “restaurants,” the shops that sushi was prepared at were actually street stalls and sushi was considered something of a fast food. Soon after, these food stalls would turn into sushi restaurants.

From the second half of the Meiji period, customers would bring their own plates to sushi restaurants to use for take away. Afterwards, a reservation system would be implemented. And after this reservation service was developed, a delivery service that would deliver orders to a specified location was born.

Check out the article below to learn more about the history of sushi.

→ https://www.fun-japan.jp/en/articles/6773

How to Order Sushi Delivery

The most common way to order sushi delivery was to go to a sushi restaurant beforehand, place an order and set up a delivery date, and then pay for the order in advance. With the increase in telephones in households, people were able to make delivery orders by phone and pay for their food once it was delivered to their door. Now, online ordering services that use apps, like Uber Eats, have become more common.

Sushi orders for one generally start at around 1500 yen, so it isn’t a cheap meal. This is why it is a common customer to order sushi delivery to celebrate a special occasion, such as a birthday, in Japan.

How is Sushi Delivered?

In the Edo period, ceramic plates were used to deliver sushi but, because they were heavy when carried on foot, and fragile and broke easily when delivered by bicycle, lightweight plates that were easy to carry became more common to deliver sushi. The first photo in this article is of a common sushi delivery plate. These plates are painted in beautiful colors with sushi organized on top in an eye-pleasing manner. These plates must be returned to the restaurant they were delivered from, so customers will wash them and place them near their front door, where delivery people will come to retrieve them the next day. Nowadays, plastic containers such as the one in the photo above are also common.

It is important to make sure that you confirm whether your sushi delivery order will come with disposable chopsticks, extra wasabi, or soy sauce packets since they may not be included.