Sushi championship kicks off

The competition will be held in 14 countries and is being jointly organised by the World Sushi Skills Institute, and the Norwegian Seafood Council, with the goal of increasing the knowledge and competence about sushi.

“We would like to thank our Japanese friends for welcoming Norwegian salmon into their sushi traditions. Must the Global Sushi Challenge be a new contribution to the joint development and growth for the Japanese sushi tradition and Norwegian salmon,” Drønen Ringdal said in his opening address.

“It all started 30 years ago when a Norwegian delegation travelled to Japan to look for export opportunities for Norwegian seafood. In their luggage, they brought fresh salmon. Since then, the Japanese sushi tradition and the Norwegian salmon have developed together and become a culinary world trend,” he added.

Even though sushi is popular all over the world, the story, tradition and competence behind aren't well enough communicated. Global Sushi Challenge, the first big sushi competition is history, aims to provide more knowledge and competence to chefs and consumers.

“We believe Global Sushi Challenge can further enforce the global development of sushi culture so that consumers in all over the world can enjoy high quality sushi,” says Henrik V Andersen, director in Japan for the Norwegian Seafood Council.

Press and guests from the seafood industry got a sushi demonstration from Hirotoshi Ogawa at the press conference. Ogawa is an excellent sushi chef from Tokyo and a teacher and instructor at the World Sushi Skills Institute.

“Hygiene is important, just like preparation techniques. The two first years of training for a Japanese sushi chef is all about hygiene and cleaning,” Ogawa explained during the demonstration. “It’s only after five years of training you may call yourself a sushi chef in Japan”.