I've never had sushi.

oh, god, yes! Eel is the best bestest! I wish sushi places weren't so expensive here...

Jan, if we ever manage to meet in person, we're so having sushi!

If we meet in Greece, I want kleftiko, not sushi.

I'm not impressed at all with the food in Athens. If we meet in Greece, we're going to spend some time in Thessaloniki, and eat delicious Greek food of all types. But we still might have sushi while in Athens. Just because.

going to Thessaloniki tonight! Will Eat Foodz! Yay!

I like it too, although I guess what I eat isn't actually sushi - it's the garden roll, which is all vegetables - avo, cuke, carrot, usually. I really love the ginger and the wasabi more than the sushi. The sushi is just the thing I put the ginger and wasabi on.

oh hell I love sushi too. I love eel, but I'm a really big fan of scallop. And pretty much everything else. Especially the pickled radish. mmmm.

And the ginger - I always eat everybody else's and still run out before I finish my sushi.

gaspode, you would love cold asian noodle salad then. You just toss cooked rice or pasta noodles with some teriyaki (I use Very Very Teriyaki) and then mix that with some shredded carrot and some shredded cabbage, and lots of chopped pickled ginger (is that what you call the sushi ginger....pickled?). It's orgasmic. It's a really great quick meal, and you can make it one day and eat it the next and the next.

yes, yes I would love that salad, iconomy. It's going on the list!

Teriyaki tofu. Yum!

A friend took me out for sushi for my birthday this summer. I had agedashi, the tofu all creamy and crispy and perfectly seasoned, and an avocado salad the turned out to be half of the most perfectly ripe avocado I've ever seen, sliced thin and cloaked in a heady sesame oil dressing, with a tangle of seaweed on the side. Oh. Oh. Oh.

I'm afraid to go back. It couldn't possibly be as good again.

I think that people that don't like sushi are mostly people that have never had GOOD sushi. Man, now I want more!

Do you like smoked/ cured salmon, ej? It's pretty much the same thing...I've just started ordering eel at sushi places...I ate it in green sauce in Brussels and liked it then.

EJ - When you do try sushi, don't dip a toe in the water - jump in. Bad sushi is ranges from bleah to BLEAH, and bad California roll is really really bad - and yet California roll is where most people get started. "Imitation crab", rubbery cucumber & carrot, and mushy rice assembled in improper ratios is just not cricket.

Good sushi, on the other hand, is transcendently good. The flavor is not "fishy", but instead a bit sweet, a bit briny, with a nice rich mouthfeel that blooms on your palate. The rice has a dash of mild vinegar on it, which offers just the barest glimpse of sour to counterpoint the rest, and so in one bite you get at least 3 of the 4 basic tastes doing a little tango on your toungue.

Go to a reputable sushi place, try to sit at the bar, and tell the person that it's your first time, you don't know what to ask for, and you'd like them to show you what is great about sushi. Then make sure they tell you what they're giving you, so you know what to ask for next time.

The truth is, it is likely to be a bit of an overwhelming experience the first time, and you may not fall instantly in love. But I bet that for a day or two afterwards you'll be thinking about it, and decide that more research is required...

I can't stand the texture of raw fish, but I do love me some unagi/eel and some BC roll (like a California roll but with hot-smoked salmon & salmon skin, and no avocado). That spinach & sesame salad (gomaae or something like that) makes me swoon, too.