For some people, heaven is a Kobe steak; for others, it’s exquisite sushi like this tuna tataki (the equivalent of tartare) with ikura (salmon roe), wasabi-flavored tobiko (capelin roe) and nori flakes (seaweed). Photo by Kelly Cline | IST.

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July 2007
Updated March 2008

Product Reviews / Main Nibbles / Fish, Seafood & Caviar

Types Of Sushi

And A Glossary Of Sushi & Sashimi Terms

Page 3: F, G

If you enjoy this Sushi Glossary, we have a food glossary for almost every category of food. Check out the Seafood Glossary, too.

You can click on the letter of the alphabet in the bar below to get to a term
without having to scroll manually; letters other than F & G
will take you to the appropriate page of the glossary.

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Fatty Tuna: See Toro.

Fugu: Blowfish or puffer fish. Its innards and blood contain a deadly poison, tetrodotoxin. In Japan, only licensed fugu chefs are allowed to prepare the fish. It is illegal to import fresh fugu into the U.S.; only frozen fugu is allowed as any toxins would be killed by freezing. The attraction of fugu is not so much an outstanding flavor, but the novelty of the “near-death adventure.”  A master sushi chef will serve every edible part of the fugu—not just the flesh (toro, back and tail meat) but the liver, intestines, skin and sperm sac (fugu no shirako).

Fukusa-sushi: A style of sushi in which the rice is wrapped in a paper-thin egg crepe. Fukusa means “silk square.” Silk fabric squares are often used in Japan to wrap presents or precious articles.

Funamori: Boat wrap, to contain items that would fall off of regular nigiri-sushi. See Gunkan-maki.

Futomaki: Japanese for “large roll,” these are oversized rolls, three times the diameter of a standard maki. Sushi bars in America traditionally offer a single “futomaki” often consisting of tamago (omelet), kampyo (sweetened gourd), kanikama (crab stick) and spinach, shiitake or cucumber, plus a sprinkling of a sweet, pink fish powder called oboro or denbu. However, any sushi can be made as a “large roll.” A chain of sushi restaurants in New York City, called Monster Sushi, has a menu of jumbo sushi rolls for people who like their makis “futo.”
Photo of futomaki by Radu Razvan | Dreamstime.

Gai: The word for clam. There are many types of clam served at sushi bars; akagai, aoyagi, bakagai, hokkigai (surf clam) and mirugai (geoduck) are often found in the U.S.

Gari: Thinly-sliced ginger root pickled in sweet vinegar. It is served with both sushi and sashimi as a palate-cleanser, to be eaten between different types of fish. It can be pink or beige, depending on coloring. The ginger root itself is called shoga; gari is the sound made when the ginger is chewed (the American equivalent might be the onomatopoeias, “chomp” or “slurp”). Gari first began to be served with sushi during the Edo period; it refreshed the mouth between different fish flavors, and also served as an antibacterial agent. Ginger itself had long been used for medicinal purposes.

Geoduck: Pronounced gooey-duck. See Mirugai.

Geta: The block of wood traditionally used as a plate at a sushi bar. The original “sushi bars” were portable wagon carts in front of movie theatres, requiring serving pieces that were not breakable.

Gobo: Burdock root—a long, slender vegetable that looks like tiny carrot. Often part of an order of oshinko (pickles), it is also an optional for vegetarian sushi roll.

Gohan: Plain boiled rice (not sushi rice).

Goma: Sesame seeds, which are sprinkled on particular rolls at the discretion of the chef, notably kappa maki and uramaki. Shiro-goma are white sesame seeds, kuro-goma are black sesame seeds.

Grade Of Fish (For Sushi Or Sashimi): This is a marketing term referring to top quality, fresh fish; you need to ask if it has been frozen for parasite control (more about that in a moment). There is no official FDA Standard of Identity for a “sushi grade” or “sashimi grade” of fish. The FDA does, however, have guidelines for the handling of raw or undercooked fish, including sushi and sashimi as well as ceviche, cold-smoked fish, drunken crabs, green herring, herring roe, lomi lomi, poisson cru and cooked dishes that are served with raw interiors. It suggests that food handlers ensure the destruction of microscopic parasites that can cause gastrointestinal infection by freezing the seafood (there are options, e.g. at -4°F (-20°C) or below for 7 days, at -31°F (-35°C) or below for 15 hours, or at -31°F (-35°C) or below for 24 hours. You can read the details here. The irony is, most people think that “sushi grade” fish is the absolute freshest fish. But it isn’t, because to protect the consumer from parasites, much of it has been frozen. Some fish—mackerel and salmon, for example—are known to harbor higher levels of parasites than others, but these days almost all fish served raw are frozen first.

Gunkan-maki: Literally “battleship roll,” the nori is rolled around the pad of nigiri rice to form an oval-shaped cup (which vaguely resembles a battleship) to contain neta, the “liquid” sushi that can otherwise fall off (for example, ikura, oysters, quail eggs, tobiko and uni). Also known as funamori and kakomi sushi.

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