Author delves into world of sushi

When author and "Iron Chef" judge Trevor Corson lived in Japan as an exchange student some years ago, he was introduced to sushi.

"I had no idea what I was eating," said Corson with a laugh during a phone call form his home in New York. "My host family took me to a restaurant, and I ate everything and anything that was placed before me."

That experience stuck with him throughout the years. And it swam to the surface of his thoughts as he was contemplating writing a follow-up to his bestselling first book, "The Secret Life of Lobsters."

"After writing that book (which was published in 2005), I began thinking of writing a book that got back to Asia," he said. "I mean, 'The Secret Life of Lobsters' was written because when I was young, for some reason, I had a fantasy of working on a lobster boat. I wanted to go out in the early morning and catch lobsters and come back at dark with the catch. I thought it was romantic.

"Anyway, as I thought of Asian food, I thought of my experiences and the all those memories came back to me when I was an exchange student."

So, Corson decided to write "The Story of Sushi." (Harper Perennial, 400 pages, $14.95)

Still, Corson said once the topic was decided, he still had to find a "vehicle" on with to hook the book.

"I did some research and then looked in to sushi-chef schools and it all came together then," he said.

"The Story of Sushi: An Unlikely Saga of Raw Fish and Rice," which was previously released as "Zen of Fish: the Story of Sushi, from Samurai to Supermarket," was released in paperback in September.

In the book, Corson shadowed Kate Murray, a college-aged Los Angeles resident and aspiring sushi-chef who attends classes set up by the California Sushi Academy, which is run by Toshi Sugiura, a man known in the sushi-making community as a master of his art. Murray's teacher is Zoran Lekic, a body-builder from Australia.

"It was interesting to see how much learning went into making sushi correctly," Corson said. "I mean, it's not just cutting up some fish, putting vinegar on rice and putting the two together. There is a contemplative ritual in making sushi."

Sushi, by the way doesn't mean raw fish.

"The raw fish is called sashimi," he said. "Basically, the seasoned rice is what is known as sushi. There are sushi dishes without fish."

Interestingly enough, sushi didn't originate in Japan, Corson said. "It originated in Southeast Asia and the people there found a way to preserve old fish and it happened to taste good."

Those little factoids and others, such as the fact that sushi bars as we know them today didn't exist until after World War II, are all effortlessly interwoven into Corson's prose throughout the book.

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