Is Sushi Gluten-Free?

I realized this is a tougher question than I thought, two days ago.  The immediate response may be, sure it is, because it is mainly rice and raw fish…seems pretty safe, right?  Wrong.

Sushi seems like is should be pretty straight-forward and in some cases it can be, but in others hidden gluten can innocently be missed. The other night we went out for sushi for the first time in a while.  I am usually so up on my game when checking out if a restaurant is safe by calling ahead of time, looking up reviews, but this caught me totally by surprise.  I knew to stay away from the imitation crab, which contains gluten, and regular soy sauce, as well as some wasabi (which can sometimes contain wheat), but this was a new one to me.

I was totally looking forward to having sushi, so we get to a nice sushi restaurant that I have wanted to try for years, and as soon as we sit down, I ask if they happen to have gluten-free soy sauce.  They do – bonus, because I forgot mine. I ask if this fish has been marinated in anything, they tell me that no, it is plain fish unless we order a roll with sauce.  Great.  Next I ask about some non-sushi dishes to order as a side and ask if those sauces would be free of gluten and safe and they tell me no, everything has soy sauce.  Fair enough.  We order drinks, order our sushi, and my mouth is watering in anticipation of this meal.  Next, the server comes to our table and tells me that the sushi rice has a sauce with vinegar and wheat in it.  What???  With this new piece of information, we decided to leave, because now, I couldn’t even eat sushi, so really there was nothing to eat except maybe steamed edamame.

We decided to try another sushi place, Ru San’s, which is a local Atlanta chain of reasonably priced and unique sushi combinations.  Plus, I had remembered that I read a review on Yelp, of someone saying they were gluten-free and ate there regularly.  I decided to play it safe anyway, and called them on the ride over to confirm their rice was safe.  I would never even of thought that sushi was rice was something I needed to question, but now I know.  Ru San’s confirmed their rice was safe, so I picked up a bottle of gluten-free tamari and we were on our way.

Not only was their sushi safe (as long as you stay away from the imitation crab, tempura and any rolls that come with sauces, such as spicy tuna), they made us fried rice using our gluten-free soy sauce.  They also told me that they usually do have gluten-free soy sauce on hand, but didn’t that night.  I am glad I came prepared.

I have also heard that some places will put sesame seed mixtures on the outside of the rolls, and some of these mixtures contain wheat.  Ru San’s used plain sesame seeds, but when I looked at a bottle of sesame seed seasoning mix on the table, I saw that it contained sesame seeds, seaweed and wheat, so be sure to ask that they are not using that on your rolls.

In my pre-celiac days, I liked to start a sushi meal with miso soup and salad with ginger dressing, but now it is important to ask what ingredients go into the soup and salad dressing before ordering.

Sushi can be an easy meal to enjoy gluten-free if you know what questions to ask and where to know where there might be hidden gluten.  Be sure to ask about any seasoning in the sushi rice; any kind of seasoning on the fish; and the sauces used in some sushi rolls. And always remember to bring your own soy sauce and stay away from the imitation crab.