The SushiBot can make 400 rolls an hour. In the following YouTube video you can see how quickly it molds the rice base that will later present pieces of fresh seafood.
The machine is on display at the World Food and Beverage Great Expo 2012 in Tokyo this week.
I don’t know about you, but I love sushi and do not find cuisine made by a robot very appetizing. Sushi is supposed to be an art form created by masters like Japanese chef Ken Kawasumi. Each culinary master has their own unique style, process, and preference.
The thought of mass produced sushi may cut down prices but could certainly take away from the experience. One of my favorite parts of dining at a sushi restaurant is talking to the chef, picking out the fish, and watching his delicate work unravel as he shapes the edible art.
A new documentary, “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” tells the story of 85 year-old Jiro Ono, considered by many to be the world’s greatest sushi chef. He is the proprietor of Sukiyabashi Jiro, a 10-seat, sushi-only restaurant inauspiciously located in a Tokyo subway station. Ono has been claimed as one of Japan’s national treasures and the devotion that he puts into each morsel is evident as he gently brushes sushi with soy sauce.
Making sushi is a tradition that is passed down generation after generation but will the artform become just one more line of worked devalued by machinery?