Wasabi

[Elahiya]

when I first saw a wasabi branch I was really amazed. there you can choose your own bento and choose your own sushi rolls, some of them were vegan (or so I thought). the first and only visit I had was at the oxford street branch and I asked the stuff about the ingredients - they told me there was no egg, mayonaise or something used at the vegetarian sushi or inari which don´t contain omelette or cheese. some time has passed, a friend of mine will come to the vegan festival in september and I intended to show him "wasabi". for the case of cases I wanted to make sure which dishes are really vegan they sell and so I contacted them. here´s the answer I just received :

We currently sell 2 hot food dishes which are suitable for vegans: our Veggie noodle soup and our Tofu Jahang (tofu fried rice), which does not contain egg.

We also sell some vegan salads and other items: Our Seaweed onigiri (Triangular rice ball) is suitable for vegans, as is our seaweed salad, wakame salad and servings of edamame (soybeans).

Unfortunately, I found out from our Chefs that while many of our vegetarian sushi pieces are suitable for vegans based on their ingredients, our sushi chefs use mayonnaise on their gloves when preparing the food to prevent the rice sticking to them when shaping the sushi. I am not sure of your opinion on this, so I will list suitable vegan sushi for your information and leave the decision up to you:

Tofu nigiri, cucumber hosomaki (small roll), avocado hosomaki, tofu hosomaki, oshinko (pickled radish) hosomaki, kampyo (gourd) hosomaki, red pepper hosomaki and our veggie roll.

Thank you very much for taking the time to write in with your comments; if you have any further comments or suggestions on how we can better cater to you in the future I would be happy to hear them, and in turn pass them on to our Director.

Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further comments about any of our branches or products;
Kind regards,

**** ****

Wasabi Co Ltd

[Gorilla]

oh dear. i was under the impression Wasabi hosomaki were properly vegan. that's very disappointing about the mayonnaise on the gloves.

on the plus side, i didn't know the tofu jahang was vegan.

[Elahiya]

didn´t expect any hot dish to be vegan to be honest. I also thought the hosomaki were vegan. who thinks of it that the shushi masters might use mayonaise on their gloves while preparing the sushi to avoid the sticking? i´ve never heard of a method like that.

but that leads me to another question: when I´d like to pick sushi at another store or restaurnant which is not marked vegan, might they also use the same method? i mean, when u ask if the sushi contain mayonaise or somethng they might say "no", but it is the "production process" that worries me.

[harpy]

Sigh - this

http://www.yosushi.com/files/fb506c1...nalBooklet.pdf

says

"Please note mayonnaise is used during the production of our rice-based dishes - however if you have a gluten allergy, these dishes can be made to order without mayonnaise."

Gluten allergy? And why don't they put something else on their gloves FFS? Mayonnaise doesn't sound like a Japanese tradition!

[twinkle]

That's bloody stupid. I think Pratt Street is an appropriate address!

[flying plum]

the wasabi on tottenham court road by goodge street has an ingredients list on the counter by all its hot dishes. last time i read it, although i was skimming, i ascertained that i couldn't eat any of the veggie dishes. i think they had whey, or something in them? i can't remember now, but i've just always avoided it since then...

of course that particular branch might a) not have the two dishes she mentions or b) i might have not read closely enough...

amanda

[Elahiya]

Mayonnaise doesn't sound like a Japanese tradition!

it doesn´t at all! since when are they doing that? obviously since they discovered western products? and if they also do at yosushi (where i haven´t been so far yet), i think i have to suppose to do it everywhere? except at the saki for example where vegan dishes are really marked vegan?

i replied them the following:

As I have to note that when the sushi rolls are prepared mayonaise is used to prevent sticking, the rolls would not be suitable for vegans. That is a bit more than just "traces during production". I am also lactose intolerant, so I wouldn´t be in the position to take any of your suhsi rolls, as many other lactose intolerants as well. That is good to know. Wouldn´t it be possible to prepare sushi without the mayonaise, e.g. with water on the hands? When I used to try preparing some sushi it worked pretty good. I would suggest that you mark your products accordingly as long as there is no other method used.

and received that answer:

Thanks very much or your response. I will bring this up with the Managers at the staff meeting tomorrow as I hope we can make changes to this method in the future.

Thank you very much for taking the time to bring these issues to our attention;

i am really astonished about that methods and disappointed of sushi in general

[threeheadedpuppy]

I thought a bowl of water with a few drops of rice vinegar was the standard way of making sushi... using mayo sounds like you'd end up making even more of a mess than not using anything, and letting it stick!
urgh

[Elahiya]

that´s what I thought, too, and i do the same way when I make some d-i-y sushi with just water and vingegar or soya sauce. i don´t understand how one could put mayo into sushi even if it was only for trying to lessen the stickyness. i´d also imagine much more of a mess when using mayo! so much to authentic sushi!?

[threeheadedpuppy]

you & your friend should have a sushi making afternoon instead - you'll know exactly what went into it, it'll probably taste way nicer, and its a fun activity!

[Gorilla]

i had some tofu jahang from the Wasabi at Victoria station at the weekend and it's pretty good, you get a lot for your money and there's quite a lot of veg in it, although it could do with a few more chunks of tofu.

[LGBunny]

wow the mayo thing is really bizarre

freakin eejits