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 .