25 replies to this topic

[Kate79]

Some kinds of wasabi paste have wheat flour; others don't. I don't know about that particular brand, but Whole Foods carries a type that doesn't have gluten - don't remember the name so check the labels. I've mixed up my own wasabi paste before and brought it with me, along with my gluten-free soy sauce.

[Kntrygrl]

I have a terrible time finding rolls that don't have gluten. It's in the fake crab, tempura batter, in most of the cooked fish like eel or salmon skin, and in the sauces they tend to drizzle over them.

I order either nigiri sushi (the fish on a block of rice) or sashimi and make sure they understand that I am "allergic" to soy sauce.

Thank you!

[Skylark]

By the way, San-J makes packets of gluten-free tamari sauce you can bring with you to sushi bars. I find them at a local health food store.
http://www.san-j.com..._info.asp?id=26

[Kntrygrl]

By the way, San-J makes packets of gluten-free tamari sauce you can bring with you to sushi bars. I find them at a local health food store.
http://www.san-j.com/product_info.asp?id=26

That's awesome!

[tomutomu]

I'm going to be the odd one and say that you cannot eat sushi. Although the end product looks simple, there is a plethora of ingredients in sushi. On top of this, the cheaper you go or the further away you are from a source of seafood, the more ingredients are used in order to compensate for the lack of flavour in fish that isn't fresh.

I have been living in Japan for the past two and a half years in a region renowned for its seafood and, subsequently, its sushi and sashimi. Unfortunately after being sick for months I did some research into sushi and found out that most of it is not gluten free.

Nori (seaweed) is usually flavoured. This is typically with MSG. Although MSG is gluten free in North America (bacterial fermentation), in Japan and China MSG is sometimes still derived from gluten. If your chef is using nori imported from either of these countries, it may not be safe. Unfortunately MSG is rarely labelled as MSG and is therefore hard to spot.

Su (rice vinegar) also contains wheat at times.

I have been off sushi for about 3 months now and, as hard as it is, I have never felt better.

Do not assume that if you can find gluten free rice vinegar in your supermarket, it means your local sushi chef is using something similar. Chefs will often use imported items that do not contain the same ingredients.

[Takala]

Well, it doesn't seem fair to try to taint the restaurants here in North America that do manage to serve gluten free sushi, just because the Japanese restaurants and vendors in Japan don't do well with the concept of "gluten free" and sourcing their ingredients. We do have rudimentary labeling laws here in the USA for the eight major allergens (one of which is wheat) which must be declared on packaged product labels, so that is not perfect, but something. This means that a rice vinegar made with wheat has to be labeled as such here, even if it is imported, or the FDA will recall it as soon as the problem is discovered and brought to their attention.

I predict that, in the future, because of the year 2010 tsunami and nuclear tragedy which will be causing a lot of thyroid problems, one result will be that the Japanese food labeling regulations just might become more attentive to items containing gluten, because by then it really will matter for a greater number of Japanese consumers.

[idonteatwheat]

As far as the rice is concerned you have to know the type of vinegar they use with it. I've been glutened with just a rice bowl and sashimi, turns out they were using a vinegar made for sushi rice and it had some barley syrup as a sweetner.

[Chaff]

Nori (seaweed) is usually flavoured. This is typically with MSG. Although MSG is gluten free in North America (bacterial fermentation), in Japan and China MSG is sometimes still derived from gluten. If your chef is using nori imported from either of these countries, it may not be safe. Unfortunately MSG is rarely labelled as MSG and is therefore hard to spot.

Su (rice vinegar) also contains wheat at times.

Do not assume that if you can find gluten free rice vinegar in your supermarket, it means your local sushi chef is using something similar. Chefs will often use imported items that do not contain the same ingredients.

That's helpful -- I also live in Japan, so sushi is everywhere. I suspect some chirashi on plain rice should be OK, like a maguro-don ordered without any sauces on top (Japanese mayo has something bad in it...I don't know what, but it's probably one of my million non-gluten food intolerances).

For folks not in Japan, it's still worth knowing, as tomutomu points out: if you have any Japanese friends or anyone who makes sushi at home who has a connection to East Asia, they may serve you sushi with these ingredients. Also, in big cities like New York and LA, they may be importing their ingredients, too. Doesn't hurt to be aware of Japanese food market standards.

Between tomutomu's post and idonteatwheat's on the barley syrup, I have to say that I am now slightly terrified to eat out in Japan. I just have one Indian place that I know to be totally safe and one Okinawan taco rice restaurant I trust.

I think I'll just down a rice cake on the way over, order only a glass of wine, and then eat at home if I have to go anywhere else.

One thing I didn't notice mentioned here was the usual complaint about sushi places: cross-contamination. There are no dedicated gluten-free bamboo rollers or mats at any sushi place I've ever been, and there are tempura crumbs and soy sauce drips everywhere. I'd been just ordering kappa maki and crossing my fingers, but I'm convinced now to just leave well enough alone.

[kenlove]

SOmetimes its the seaweed. Much of the cheaper Korean seaweed is process in soy sauce making it really rotten for us.

The only rolls I get -- when the nori (seaweeh is good) are the oshinko ( pickles) and cucumber or natto rolls.

[scenicgurl]

I have a terrible time finding rolls that don't have gluten. It's in the fake crab, tempura batter, in most of the cooked fish like eel or salmon skin, and in the sauces they tend to drizzle over them.

I order either nigiri sushi (the fish on a block of rice) or sashimi and make sure they understand that I am "allergic" to soy sauce.

I've found, when I want sushi at home, places like whole foods are the best for helping me out. They make it order as well as have several already there waiting. The majority of them aren't breaded and don't have sauce. It's about $7 a roll so it's not robbery and considering how you know you won't get sick I'm ok with that.

[kenlove]

Thats about all we can hope for although sometimes you can order unagi or anago shioyaki -- just  salt. 

 

ko mugi ( pronounced ko mu gee) allergy ( aruegee) should help them  figure it out

 

I have a terrible time finding rolls that don't have gluten. It's in the fake crab, tempura batter, in most of the cooked fish like eel or salmon skin, and in the sauces they tend to drizzle over them.

I order either nigiri sushi (the fish on a block of rice) or sashimi and make sure they understand that I am "allergic" to soy sauce.