While sushi can be made from nearly any fresh, edible fish funazushi is traditionally made with a kind of Japanese goldfish called nigorobuna, unique to Lake Biwa in Shiga Prefecture.

Originally a food preservation method to fortify rice farmers’ food stores through the rainy season, the fish is pickled in salt to draw out moisture, then compressed with steamed rice to seal out air and encourage fermentation. The resulting product, harvested several months later, evokes strong, tangy blue cheese, feet and perhaps a whiff of ammonia.

Funazushi is a very historical Japanese food and also known as the origin of Sushi. Funazushi is one type of *Narezushi and has a very long history. Narezushi was born back in Nara Period, at the time when the rice cultivation was introduced to japan from Thai and China.

Ancient J...