Life style

All about Sushi

Published

4 years ago

2022/12/11

For the past 18 generations, one family has preserved a 400-year-old recipe showing how sushi once tasted, and it doesn’t use raw seafood, but fish aged for three years.On any fine day in spring, when the sky is clear and the waters of nearby Lake Biwa are calm enough for locals to go carp fishing, you can find Mariko Kitamura and her husband Atsushi at their shop Kitashina in the small Japanese town of Takashima making sushi.

With the dexterity and speed you’d expect from sushi chefs, they scrape off the fish’s scales with a knife, remove its gills and carefully angle a skewer down its throat to remove its innards without penetrating its flesh. But what happens next is truly unexpected. They pack the fish with salt, layer them in a wooden tub, weigh the lid down with 30kg stones and leave them to cure for two years. Each fish is then thoroughly rinsed, dried in the sun for a day and fermented for one more year in cooked rice before it is ready to be eaten.

This is not the kind of sushi you might get in New York or London, or even easily in Tokyo for that matter. It is the predecessor of what the world now knows as sushi – the original sushi – called narezushi (fermented sushi). Kitamura’s family has been making it for 18 generations, ever since Kitashina opened in 1619 in this remote corner of Shiga prefecture, and today the centuries-old shop is one of a handful of places left in Japan, and the world, where you can experience how “real” sushi is supposed to taste.

Narezushi

is thousands of years old and traces its roots back to the rice fields of China, where the method of curing in salt and fermenting the freshwater fish that lived in the paddies was developed to give the seasonal catch a long shelf life. It is believed to have arrived in Japan at the country’s ancient capital of Nara sometime in the 8th Century. For the next 1,000 years, until it evolved in the 18th Century into the slices-of-raw-seafood-draped-over-mounds-of-rice dish we know today, narezushi was a commonly consumed, nourishing and tasty source of protein. People would eat a few pieces of it with the fermented rice. They’d put a slice of it in hot water to make a medicinal tea. And they enjoyed it as a delicacy with sake at the tables of aristocratic and samurai families.

As a testimony to narezushi’s importance and the skill required to make it, Kitamura’s ancestor 18 generations back, Kuemon Yamagataya (Kitashina’s founder), was appointed to the entourage of Lord Mitsunobu Wakebe when he moved to Takashima in 1619 to take charge of the castle at the request of Japan’s new military leader, Ieyasu Tokugawa.

Unlike modern sushi, which typically includes ocean seafood, Narezushi was made – and still is in small pockets of Japan – with pretty much anything that swims in fresh water, including tiny loach, ayu (small sweet fish) and eel. But the kind of narezushi Kitashina makes is much rarer and is considered the true prototype of sushi. It is called funazushi after the type of fish used: funa (carp).

Carp is the king of freshwater fish in Japan, with the most prized being Japanese crucian carp (nigorobuna), which is the original type of carp used to make funazushi and the kind Kitashina features. It is a wild, rich-tasting species that’s found only in Lake Biwa, Japan’s largest lake and one of the oldest lakes in the world.

Today, there are just five shops around the lake that specialise in making high-quality funazushi, as nigorobuna has become very rare and hard to obtain. Other places, including souvenir shops across the prefecture, use more common types of carp and offer a comparatively ready-made version – funazushi cured in salt for one summer and fermented in rice for a few months in autumn – for tourists seeking to try its reputedly pungent taste. Among them all, Kitashina is the one making the most authentic funazushi by using nigorobuna and applying the oldest, most traditional preparation methods.

The good stuff is hard to get, though. Peak demand for Kitashina’s funazushi is from November to February when customers order it as a New Year’s treat, and later, to celebrate the arrival of spring. It can be sold out then, but a fresh batch, so to speak, is ready every year in mid-summer.

Before trying funazushi, Kitamura told me that it tastes like cheese – which it does, in its lacto- fermented, sour, salty and umami-rich way. It’s reminiscent of a funky and creamy type of cheese, given that Kitashina makes funazushi with the roe-laden female nigorobuna in season from March to May. Like many mature cheeses, funazushi is an acquired taste; a food that takes some getting used to. But then so is eating raw seafood for many people.

Kitamura, who attended the Kyoto Culinary Institute, took over the family business in 2013 when her father was ready to retire – partly because of her interest in food, but more importantly, to save the business from, literally, dying out. The beneficial micro-organisms that have thrived in her family’s traditional kioke wooden tubs for centuries, and which naturally produce the fermentation that gives Kitashina’s funazushi its authentic flavour, would die if the tubs were ever emptied.

Today, funazushi has become a luxury food across much of Japan, with Kitashina being the shop at which to buy it because of its refined, mellow flavour. According to Kitamura, that’s in part thanks to her grandfather, who, despite sushi’s growing popularity, continued to stick to Kitashina’s 400-year-old recipe of long fermentation and changing the rice once during the process. He also introduced the practice of serving it on a bed of sake lees – the sweet, rich paste left after pressing sake from the fermented rice mash – making the dish even more luxurious. Kitamura’s father, in turn, created the “Tomoe” style of beautifully presenting funazushi as a fan fashioned from the slices of a whole fish.

Kitashina’s funazushi is now featured on the menus of some of the most exclusive ryotei (traditional high-end Japanese eateries) and other top restaurants in Kyoto, as well as at similar establishments in Tokyo. Taking a cue from Kitamura’s grandfather’s presentation, chef Takumi Murata, of the L’Hotel de Hiei located atop the historical Mount Hiei overlooking Kyoto, serves Kitashina’s funazushi with wine jelly as an appetiser in the hotel’s main restaurant.

Compared to narezushi’s millennia-old history, the sushi we eat today is a mere footnote. Technically called hayazushi (fast sushi), it was created in Edo (modern-day Tokyo) in the late 18th Century as a fast-food version of narezushi to meet the needs of the city’s busy people. The newly bottled seasonings of fermented rice vinegar and soy sauce were used to recreate the essential sour, salty and rich taste of funazushi in the fresh seafood that was caught in Tokyo Bay. First, rice vinegar was added to cooked rice to speed up the fermentation process to just a few days. This practice also made the rice more edible. Later, freshly cooked rice was simply soaked with rice vinegar.

The gamechanger, however, was soy sauce, which began to be mass produced in the 1700s. As Issei Tomioka, a former employee at the Tokyo Metropolitan Central Wholesale Market in Tsukiji, wrote in his series The History of Nihonbashi Uogashi, “sushi would likely not have been developed had it not been for soy sauce.” Brewed for at least two years, traditional soy sauce is a concentrated form of salty-savoury umami. Initially, it was used to marinate the seafood toppings for a few hours to prevent them from spoiling and also to make them more appetising. As the fresh quality of the seafood improved, sushi was served raw with soy sauce as a condiment.

Sushi is a remarkable example of the way Japan adopts foods from other countries, in this case China, and then adapts and assimilates them into its own rich culinary culture. After thousands of years, sushi continues to evolve.

Currently, the pendulum is swinging backwards, and sushi chefs in Japan are now aging their seafood toppings for days, weeks and even months to give all kinds of fish the creamy texture and savoury richness of funazushi. Koji Kimura, chef-owner of the two-Michelin-starred Sushi Kimura in Tokyo’s Setagaya ward, has been serving only aged sushi since 2008 and is

considered its modern-day pioneer.

Closer to Takashima, Yoichi Akashi, the chef at Sushi Zabo in Miyazu City, is following the tradition of Kitashina’s funazushi by taking an already rich-tasting, fatty fish like akamutsu (rosy seabass) caught fresh from the nearby Sea of Japan or East Sea (as it is referred to in Japan and Korea, respectively).

But even as chefs rediscover the potential of weeks- and months-aged sushi, Kitamura is staying well ahead of them. In a corner of Kitashina’s storeroom, she has a small wooden tub of funazushi that has been fermenting for eight years and counting.– BBC

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Life style

Nanda Malini Ascocenda: A flower that carries the name of a legendary voice

Published

1 day ago

2026/08/30

Thilina Walpola

By Ifham Nizam

A flower named after one of Sri Lanka’s most celebrated voices has become a unique tribute to the country’s cultural heritage, with the Nanda Malini Ascocenda orchid carrying the name of veteran singer Dr. Nanda Malini.

The orchid was named in honour of Nanda Malini, recognising her outstanding contribution to Sri Lankan music and culture. She is among the country’s most acclaimed singers, with a career spanning several decades and a repertoire deeply rooted in Sri Lankan social and cultural experiences.

The striking illustration, released by the Ministry of Environment on August 21, features the veteran singer surrounded by colourful orchids and musical notes, bringing together two important elements of Sri Lankan identity — the country’s rich natural heritage and its musical tradition.

The Nanda Malini Ascocenda is particularly significant because it represents an unusual meeting point between art and nature. Orchids have long been associated with Sri Lanka’s botanical wealth, while the naming of individual hybrids after distinguished personalities provides a lasting link between the country’s natural and cultural heritage.

According to published accounts, the Nanda Malini Ascocenda was named in 2004 in recognition of the singer.

A recent profile described her as possibly the only Sri Lankan artiste to have an orchid named after her by the Orchid Circle of Sri Lanka.

Nanda Malini’s contribution to music has been recognised through numerous awards. She has also performed internationally and remains one of the most recognised figures in Sri Lankan music.

Her association with songs reflecting social realities, human emotions and national identity has given her a special place in the country’s cultural landscape.

The orchid, therefore, represents more than a botanical curiosity. It is a living tribute to an artiste whose voice has accompanied generations of Sri Lankans.

The Ministry of Environment’s presentation also serves as a reminder that conservation is not limited to forests, wildlife and ecosystems. Sri Lanka’s natural heritage is closely intertwined with its history, culture, art and the people who have enriched the nation’s identity.

As the colourful blooms of the Nanda Malini Ascocenda evoke the beauty of Sri Lanka’s orchid heritage, the name attached to them ensures that the contribution of one of the country’s most distinguished musical voices continues to live on in an entirely different form — through nature itself.

Life style

The Best of Malkoha celebrates half a century of Sri Lankan ornithological writings

Published

1 day ago

2026/08/30

Thilina Walpola

Distinguished gathering

By Ifham Nizam

The launch of The Best of Malkoha: Half a Century of Ornithological Writings marked a significant milestone in Sri Lanka’s birdwatching and conservation history, as the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka (FOGSL) celebrated its Golden Jubilee at the Faculty of Science, University of Colombo.

The book, drawn from five decades of writings published in Malkoha, the FOGSL newsletter, brings together a rich record of observations, discoveries and experiences that helped shape modern field ornithology in Sri Lanka.

The launch formed part of FOGSL’s first-ever Founders’ Day, held on August 22, a date chosen to coincide with the 76th birthday of Vidyajothi Emeritus Professor Sarath Kotagama, one of the Organisation’s founding figures and its enduring source of inspiration.

The occasion brought together academics, conservationists, naturalists, birdwatchers, students, young birders and members of FOGSL, reflecting the broad community that the organisation has cultivated since its establishment in 1976.

Section of the invitees

Biodiversity expert Dr. Rohan Pethiyagoda, delivering the Golden Jubilee Founders’ Day Oration, used the occasion to reflect on five decades of biodiversity research and conservation in Sri Lanka, while paying tribute to Professor Kotagama and the role played by FOGSL in taking birdwatching beyond a small circle of specialists.

Pethiyagoda said the organisation’s greatest achievement had been its ability to make knowledge of birds and nature accessible to ordinary people.

He recalled how, in the early 1990s, Professor Kotagama had proposed producing an affordable field guide so that birdwatching would no longer be restricted by the high cost of existing publications.

That resulted in the publication of A Field Guide to the Birds of Sri Lanka in 1994, which Pethiyagoda published and which subsequently became a bestseller.

The collaboration later produced Sri Lanka Kurulu in Sinhala, making serious bird identification and knowledge available to an even wider audience.

Pethiyagoda recalled a particularly emotional encounter that demonstrated the lasting impact of that work.

During a recent visit to Talangama to accompany Australian birdwatchers, he encountered two boys, aged around 12 and 14, carrying a battered copy of Sri Lanka Kurulu and using it to identify birds.

“I just started crying,” Pethiyagoda said, describing the moment as evidence of how knowledge had been passed from one generation to another.

: Prof Nihal Dayawansa

: Dr. Pethiyagoda

: Prof Kotagama

: Birthday celebration

He said the achievements of the past 50 years should not be underestimated. Sri Lanka has witnessed major advances in health, education, infrastructure and conservation, while the country’s protected-area network has expanded considerably.

At the same time, however, he warned that biodiversity research and conservation continue to face serious institutional challenges.

Pethiyagoda pointed to habitat fragmentation, climate change, inadequate scientific research and restrictions on field research as major challenges facing the next generation of conservationists.

He said climate change would increasingly force species to move towards cooler, higher elevations, but fragmented habitats could prevent them from making such movements.

“Our challenge now is to connect up those little fragments so that plants and animals can migrate across these landscapes,” he said, stressing the importance of restoring ecological connectivity.

He also called for greater investment in ex-situ conservation for species facing extinction and urged the establishment of conservation facilities across Sri Lanka’s different climatic zones.

Pethiyagoda placed particular emphasis on citizen science, arguing that Sri Lanka possessed an enormous reservoir of public enthusiasm for biodiversity.

He noted that more than 20,000 Sri Lankans were now involved in citizen science through platforms such as iNaturalist, with Sri Lankan users generating significant biodiversity data.

“The appetite for science, the appetite for conservation, for exploration, for discovery is there in the people,” he said.

Pethiyagoda also paid an emotional tribute to Professor Kotagama, describing him as the constant force behind much of Sri Lanka’s modern conservation movement.

“In future generations, we will talk of conservation in this country as before Kotagama and after Kotagama,” he said.

He also acknowledged Professor Kotagama’s wife, Namali, for being the “bedrock” of his household and for supporting his decades-long contribution to conservation.

The Golden Jubilee celebrations also looked back at the origins of FOGSL.

The Organisation was founded on October 10, 1976, when four passionate bird enthusiasts—the late P. B. Karunaratne, Professor S.U.K. Ekaratne, Professor Sarath Kotagama and Rex I De Silva —came together with a shared objective of making birdwatching accessible beyond the relatively exclusive group that had traditionally dominated the field.

FOGSL was subsequently formally recognised by the University of Colombo and developed as a platform bringing together birdwatchers, researchers, students, educators and nature enthusiasts.

Its philosophy was simple: one did not need an academic qualification to become a member. Enthusiasm, careful observation, recording and sharing knowledge were enough.

That principle continues to define the Organisation.

FOGSL has since become Sri Lanka’s BirdLife International partner and has played an important role in bird research, conservation, environmental education, field studies, school programmes and citizen science.

Its work has extended from research on endemic birds and migratory species to biodiversity monitoring, conservation education and programmes aimed at children and young people.

Speaking at the event, FOGSL President Professor Nihal Dayawansa said the organisation’s founding vision remained relevant even after half a century.

The Organisation, he noted, was created not simply as a birdwatching club but as a platform through which people could study and conserve Sri Lanka’s birds while inspiring the wider public to appreciate nature.

The Founders’ Day itself was described as an opportunity to honour those who established and shaped the Organisation while celebrating the contribution of generations of members.

Professor Mayuri Wijeyasinghe, Head of the Department of Zoology and Environmental Sciences, said FOGSL had given ornithology a new meaning in Sri Lanka by taking birdwatching beyond an elite community and making it accessible to ordinary people and schoolchildren.

She noted that Sri Lanka, as a tropical island with a remarkable diversity of birds and a high level of endemism, had a special responsibility to understand and conserve its avifauna.

The Dean of the Faculty of Science, Professor I.M.K. Fernando, meanwhile, said that although his own field was physics, he recognised the common foundation shared by all branches of science—curiosity.

He congratulated FOGSL on reaching 50 years and praised its contribution to research, education, student development, wetland conservation, public awareness and science-based advice on development projects.

“The work goes far beyond publishing,” he said, noting the Organisation’s lectures, school programmes, research projects and conservation initiatives.

He also paid tribute to Professor Kotagama, describing him as a legend whose influence had extended well beyond ornithology.

Professor Kotagama, speaking after receiving tributes from colleagues and friends, said the Organisation’s foundations had been laid with a belief that people could make a difference.

He stressed the importance of taking decisions based on scientific knowledge and criticised excessive bureaucratic barriers that, in his view, prevented scientists from carrying out important field research.

Reflecting on his own period as Director of Wildlife Conservation, he said he had sought to transform the Department into a scientific institution.

“For me and for us who were working in the Mahaweli environment programme at that time, we knew that if not for science, you cannot go forward in conservation,”

Professor Kotagama said, stressing that conservation required both natural and social sciences.

He recalled the challenges faced by the Department, including inadequate staffing structures and poor career progression for wildlife officers, and said efforts had been made to introduce a more professional and scientifically grounded system.

The 50-year journey of FOGSL is closely intertwined with the development of modern field ornithology in Sri Lanka.

From the early days when birdwatching was largely confined to a small group of specialists, the Organisation helped create a culture in which students, schoolchildren, amateur birdwatchers and citizen scientists could contribute to the understanding of the country’s biodiversity.

The launch of The Best of Malkoha, therefore, served as more than the unveiling of another publication. It was a record of that transformation.

The writings collected in the volume represent five decades of observations and experiences, documenting how Sri Lankan field ornithology evolved through the work of generations of birdwatchers, researchers and conservationists.

As theOorganisation enters its next half century, the message emerging from the Golden Jubilee celebrations was clear: the future of conservation will depend not only on institutions and scientists but also on an informed and empowered public.

FOGSL’s enduring motto—”Once a member, always a member”—perhaps best captures that legacy: a lifelong connection with birds, nature, scientific observation and the responsibility to protect Sri Lanka’s extraordinary natural heritage.

Life style

Heart that beats for humanity

Published

1 day ago

2026/08/30

Thilina Walpola

Dr Rajitha Y de Silva: Healing hearts, saving lives

Dr. Rajitha de Silva

By Zanita Careem

Dr. Rajitha Y. de Silva, Consultant Cardiothoracic Surgeon and Consultant at Sri Jayewardenepura General Hospital, has built a distinguished career around one of medicine’s most demanding discipline – surgery of the heart. With his expertise, precision and pioneering spirit, he has become closely associated with the advancement of Minimally Invasive Cardiac surgery in Sri Lanka. He joined Sri Jayewardenpura General Hospital in 2013 and is today recognised as a pioneer of Minimally Invasive Cardiacs procedures in the country.

He is particulary recognised as a pioneer of mimimallyinvasive surgery in Sri lanka,with experience in procedures including minimally invasive coronary surgery and mitral valve repair. He is recognition as a leading figure in the advancement of modern cardiac surgery in the country. With years of specialised training and experience behind him, Dr de Silva has built a reputation in cardiothoracic surgery while remaining deeply conscious of the human story behind every patient who enters the operating theatre. For him, the beating heart is more than an organ to be repaired – it represents a life, a family, a future and a second chance.

His commitment to patients extends well beyond the operating theatre. Having witnessed the financial hardships faced by heart patients who desperately needed surgery but could not afford it. Dr de Silva, together with Senior Cardiologist Dr. Ruwan Ekanayake, co-founded the Heart to Heart Trust Fund.

The initiative was created with a powerful objective, that no patient should be denied life saving cardiac treatment simply because of financial difficulties.

Perhaps one of the most striking aspects of Dr de Silva’s personality is that his concern for patients does not end when the operation is over. His vision has included creating initiatives that make the difficult journey of cardiac patients more humane, giving them encouragement, dignity and hope during a period when they are often at their most vulnerable. Abayadhana was born from a simple but powerful conviction that every patient deserves a chance to live.

Through the Abayadhana programme, he represents his compassionate approach to caring for people who need not only medical attention, but also understanding, encouragement and support. What makes this initiative particularity meaningful is the personal commitment behind it. It reflects his belief that healing is not only about medicine, but about reaching out to people when they are most vulnerable.

Away from the intensity of the operating theatre, Dr. Rajitha de Silva finds another kind of joy – his passion for cricket over the years; he has taken the field in numerous matches, playing alongside and against many well known personalties.

Dr. Rajitha de Silva’s journey is guided by compassion and success anchored in humanity. From pioneering milestones in cardiac surgery to the Heart to Heart Trust Fund and the Abayadhana initiative, he has continued to give back to the people whose lives he touches. His love for cricket, his warmth and generosity reveal the heart behind the healing hands.

A surgeon by profession, a humanitarian by choice and a cricketer by heart, Dr. Rajitha’s greatest legacy may not be measured only by the operations he has performed, but by the lives he has changed, the hope he has restored and the hearts he has touched.

The trustees of the Heart to Heart Trust Fund stand united behind the mission of saving lives and giving hope. Their collective commitment helps turn the Trust’s vision into meaningful support for patients and families in need

The Executive Director, Heart to Heart Trust Fund, Shanti Fernando, plays a hands on role in turning the Trust’s vision into action, coordinating efforts, and bringing hope where it is needed.

Behind Dr. Rajitha de Silva’s demanding life is his wife, Dr. Arunie, and children, who has been his strength and support.