Did you know that we can thank Norway for salmon sushi? Yes! Norway!
Norway had an abundance of salmon and needed a market for it. Japan seemed like a good prospect because of their large fish consumption. Also, a piece of fish for sushi is sometimes sold for almost 5x of what that same piece of fish would be sold for cooking.
However, it was not easy to convince Japan to use salmon in sushi. Japanese salmon frequently carries parasites and thus cannot be consumed raw. Norwegian salmon does not carry parasites, but it is hard to change an entire country’s opinion on something. In the end, Norwegians did just that, and now Salmon as sushi is commonplace.
Learned from Planet Money: podcast #651: “The Salmon Taboo”
