The Unexpected Benefits of Growing Older as a Sushi Chef

Aside from having access to an abundance of freshly made spicy tuna hand rolls, there is a surprising benefit of being a sushi chef: Aging.

The Unexpected Benefits of Growing Older as a Sushi Chef

I don't know about you, but many things in my life weren’t planned or even dreamt of. Becoming a sushi chef and teaching thousands of people how to make a Rainbow Roll was never a childhood dream. Like many of my friends, I wanted to be a baseball player or a superhero (Power Ranger, anyone?).

But as life would have it, being a sushi chef comes with its own unique benefits, one of which is age.

During our usual morning coffee chat, my wife mentioned something that struck me: "Your sushi tastes better now than it did ten years ago." It’s interesting because I feel like I haven’t changed much. Yet, deep down, I know my sushi has improved over the past decade.

In the past, I wrote about our well-used wooden cutting boards, full of scratches and marks. We could replace them with new ones, but I believe the old ones have character. Every scratch tells a story of someone who took a class and made a Rainbow Roll. Like those boards, I see myself getting better with age.

Being a sushi chef is one of those rare professions where experience truly enhances the craft. As I gain more knowledge and understanding, my sushi tastes better. I now know why many online recipes for "perfect" rice often fail. It’s not just about knowing more, but understanding more. This deeper understanding allows me to teach a better class as well.

Both teaching and making sushi improve with experience.

Honestly, I'm not entirely sure what makes my sushi taste so much better now than before. I suppose it’s the accumulation of small adjustments. For instance, I now cure salmon with sugar first, then with salt. Previously, I used to cure it with a mix of sugar and salt. You wouldn’t think it makes a difference, but it does— it tastes different.

The same goes for my sushi classes. I often joke, "It’s the same class I’ve been teaching for the past ten years, with the same jokes." In some ways, that’s true, but if you compare today’s class with the one from ten years ago, it’s almost a completely different experience. My sushi is the same way. It’s almost unrecognizable compared to ten years ago. How different? I honestly don’t know. I just know it is a better class.

Soon, I'll be visiting a private client we haven’t served in five years. I’ll be introducing them to new dishes and sushi they’ve never experienced before. I’m excited to hear what they’ll say.

I’ve heard that so-called "breakthroughs" don’t happen overnight. They’re the result of daily, incremental steps that eventually lead to something remarkable. When that breakthrough happens, we only see the final step, not the 99% that lies beneath the surface.

I guess everything I’ve done over the past decade is hidden beneath the water. You might only be seeing the tip of the iceberg, but as I grow older, what’s beneath the surface keeps expanding.

If you haven’t seen me or tasted my sushi recently, maybe you’ll notice the difference.

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Breakthrough Sushi offers sushi classes and sushi catering in the San Francisco Bay Area using sustainable seafood.

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