![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_3K9daJCx7zr_4tSYLu6flPqrdL6rcOZA30NyaoOlajn1Uj3eFVBomUP0x2HmhyphenhyphenwJMi6sWirgbJ43BMhDTUjV44srctG6Ih7JuGzGILQj89peVq-SPpN2-Hrks_DR-Qr21GREtz7gurcv/s320/200px-2007feb-sushi-odaiba-manytypes.jpg)
Different types of sushi ready to be eaten.
In Japanese cuisine, sushi (寿司, 鮨, 鮓, sushi?) is a food made of vinegared rice, usually topped with other ingredients including fish (cooked or uncooked) and vegetables. Sushi as an English word has come to refer to a complete dish with rice and toppings; this is the sense used in this article. The original word Japanese: 寿司 sushi, written in kanji, means "snack" and refers to the rice, but not fish or other toppings.[1] Outside of Japan, sushi is sometimes misunderstood to mean the raw fish by itself, or even any fresh raw-seafood dishes [2]. In Japan, sliced raw fish alone is called sashimi and is distinct from sushi.
There are various types of sushi: sushi served rolled inside nori (dried and pressed layer sheets of seaweed or alga) called makizushi (巻き) or rolls; sushi made with toppings laid with hand-formed clumps of rice called nigirizushi (にぎり); toppings stuffed into a small pouch of fried tofu called inarizushi; and toppings served scattered over a bowl of sushi rice called chirashi-zushi (ちらし).