The Japanese dish of vinegared rice combined with raw fish and vegetables is sushi.
The defining ingredient is shari, rice seasoned with vinegar, sugar, and salt. Sushi may include raw seafood such as tuna, salmon, squid, or yellowtail, but cooked seafood, vegetables, egg, and vegetarian fillings are also common. Raw fish alone is sashimi, which does not include vinegared rice.
Sushi developed from older fish-preservation methods in East Asia. The modern hand-pressed style, nigirizushi, is commonly associated with Hanaya Yohei, who sold it as fast food in Edo, now Tokyo, around 1824. Other forms include makizushi rolls, chirashizushi served in a bowl, and inarizushi stuffed into seasoned tofu pouches.
A frequent mix-up is treating sushi as synonymous with raw fish. The rice is the essential feature: a dish can be sushi even when its topping is cooked or entirely plant-based. Wasabi, soy sauce, and pickled ginger are traditional accompaniments, but they do not define the dish.