It was in Edo that contemporary sushi was created by Hanaya Yohei( 1799 – 1858) at the end of period. Hanaya ' s version was a precursor to fast food; by avoiding all fermentation, the dish could be prepared therefore very quickly, and each roll was shaped for conveniently eating with one ' s hands. Portion sizes shrank to roughly a third of the previous norm to further accommodate this principle. The dish was originally termed Edomae zushi as it used freshly caught fish from the Edomae( Edo or Tokyo Bay); the term Edomae nigirizushi is still used today as a byword for quality sushi, regardless of its ingredients ' origins.
“ We made love... and sushi.” C. J. English
The Oxford English Dictionary notes the earliest written mention of sushi in English in an 1893 book, A Japanese Interior, where it mentions sushi as " a roll of cold rice with fish, seaweed, or some other flavoring ". However, there is an earlier mention of sushi in James Hepburn ' s JapaneseEnglish dictionary from 1873, and an 1879 article on Japanese cookery in the journal Notes and Queries.