While nowadays it’s a pretty common choice of food for many people, still millions of Brits have never tried sushi, and believe that the cuisine can simply be described as ‘raw fish’.
Research commissioned by popular sushi restaurant YO! Sushi has revealed some of the things that a lot of Brits have somehow so far managed to avoid in their lives.
In the detailed study of 2,000 people, it turned out that one third have never had the confidence to eat a meal in a restaurant by themselves, one in four have never pitched a tent, and 22 per cent have never successfully poached an egg.
Many of us have never attempted to change a lightbulb, and one third have never had a one night stand.
On top of all the other things we’ve never tried, the figures revealed that around 53 per cent of Brits have never tried sushi, with over half of sushi virgins believing the Japanese dish is ‘just raw fish’. (Guilty.)
Liverpool, Portsmouth and Norwich came out as the top three UK cities with the biggest sushi virgin populations, while Edinburgh took the lead in food experimentation with 60 per cent having eaten sushi.
The study, which was carried out by OnePoll.com, also revealed that the average Brit pops their sushi cherry at the age of 31. That’s good news for me; I still have nine years to go to become the average sushi eater.
The Marketing Director at YO! Sushi, Luisa Fernandez, said:
We are proud to have introduced sushi to the UK 21 years ago, when Britain was a nation of sushi virgins, yet to discover its fresh and healthy variety and millions have been loving it ever since.
To the 53 per cent of the UK who are still sushi virgins, we want to prove to you that sushi is so much more than just raw fish.
We have over 80 delicious dishes at YO!, with actually more non-fish dishes than fish – so we can guarantee there is something for everyone.
Take a look at the top 20 everyday things Brits have never done here:
Tried sushi
Broken wind in a work meeting
Done the walk of shame
Won a toy in a claw machine
Cried in public because of a song
Deleted a post on social media because it had a low number of likes
Had a one-night stand
Eaten at a restaurant alone
Pulled a fake sickie at work
Put up a shelf
Re-gifted a gift that was given to you
Put up a tent
Successfully poached an egg
Read a newspaper front to back
Pressed send on a text then immediately regretted it
Changed the ink in a fountain pen
Put together a piece of flat pack furniture
Baked a cake
Skipped a stone across water
Thrown a coin in a wishing well
Check out if you live in one of the more reluctant cities with the list of top 10 sushi virgins:
1. Liverpool
2. Portsmouth
3. Norwich
4. Birmingham
5. Chelmsford
6. Wrexham
7. Sheffield
8. Swansea
9. Leeds
10. Cambridge
This month, everyone who is still yet to banish the ‘sushi is raw fish’ stigma can lose their L-plates with an exclusive invitation to sample one of 10 sushi dishes at YO! Sushi for the low price of just £1.
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Emily Brown first began delivering important news stories aged just 13, when she launched her career with a paper round. She graduated with a BA Hons in English Language in the Media from Lancaster University, and went on to become a freelance writer and blogger. Emily contributed to The Sunday Times Travel Magazine and Student Problems before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news as well as longer form features.