Why You May Want to Avoid Sushi on Mondays, According to a Food Expert

It’s not too far off to say that sushi is many people’s comfort food. It’s practically everywhere now, and comfort food is never more needed than on the most dreaded day of the week: Monday.

But before you head out after work with some friends to a little sushi joint, Huffington Post, with the help of “culinary bad boy” and sarcastic chef Anthony Bourdain, has an important tip that might have you reconsidering going out to get sushi on a day like today.

In Bourdain’s 2000 book, “Kitchen Confidential,” he revealed that the seafood some joints typically sell on Mondays is “about four to five days old.” Especially when it comes to sushi, nothing disgusts your palate more than that fishy smell right before you take a bite but then decide not to.

But that was almost 15 years ago. In his 2010 book, “Medium Raw,” Bourdain makes a correction to his previous statement.

“But eat the fucking fish on Monday already. Okay? I wrote those immortal words about not going for the Monday fish, the ones that’ll haunt me long after I’m crumbs in a can, knowing nothing other than New York City. And times, to be fair, have changed.”

So, to eat sushi on Mondays or not to eat sushi on Mondays — how can you know?

Food transportation is faster than ever before, and most fresh seafood is shipped overnight. Chances are, most Japanese sushi places have decently fresh fish, but it’s not always the case. Whole Foods, for example, basically has small parts of the ocean overnighted to their stores every day, so everything there is fresh for you to eat — if you can afford it. Those “fast-food sushi” places, however, pretty much never have fresh fish.

FDA freezing procedures for raw fish are intended to kill parasites, but the worst case scenario is having that fishy, warm and raw fish coming back up — it’s not worth it. When in doubt, follow your nose. The freshest fish smells lightly of the ocean — old fish smells nauseatingly fishy.

Here’s a pro-tip: It might be smart to stay away from sushi places that offer Sunday and Monday specials, as they might be trying to get rid of their old stock quicker. So to be safe, unless you know the place typically serves fresh sushi, save yourself a fishy experience.

Stay hungry and practice safe sushi.

Written by NextShark’s Max Chang