Sushi 101 Class at Whole Foods

A few weeks ago, Mr. K and I attended a sushi making class taught by the Genji Sushi Chefs at Whole Foods.

For just $15, you get an hour lesson in sushi making with a small group, demonstrations and one-on-one help, an instruction booklet and sushi mat, plus all the sushi you made that day. I think it’s a pretty good deal considering the sushi rolls we went home with alone would have cost me more than $15. We were lucky enough to be invited to attend the class to check out what it was all about.

I’ve rolled my own sushi before at sushi making parties during college, but we never learned any proper technique. We just sort of did a trial and error to try to figure things out. Attending the class was really beneficial because it taught me the proper methods, like which side of the seaweed to use and which edge to start with, etc.

After demoing each one, the sushi chef would come and check on our progress. Mr. K was adding quite a lot of ingredients to his. I didn’t want to say anything, but then the sushi chef came over and exclaimed “oh wow, that’s a giant roll!”

I didn’t take too many pictures during the class because my hands were full of sushi rice. We had a lot of fun though and everyone in the class was around the same beginner level. We got to make two hand rolls, two Hosomoki (thin, regular) cucumber rolls, and two Uramaki (inside out) California rolls. Before we left, the chefs sliced the rolls for us and gave us containers to put them in. They also gave us a few samples of new sushi items offered at Genji to take home too.

Here are my California inside-out rolls:

And my handrolls with the free samples of the new Hako sushi:

Here’s Mr. K’s final product:

You can see in this picture how much bigger the right California roll is compared to the one next to it. The size difference looked even bigger in person.

We left really happy, with somewhat decent sushi rolling skills, and a whole lot of sushi for lunch.

I would definitely recommend this class to anyone who enjoys sushi and wants to learn how to make it. I can’t wait to test out my sushi rolling skills at home before I forget everything I learned.

To learn more about whether your local Whole Foods is offering a Sushi 101 class, you can call your local Whole Foods or look at their in-store calendar, or look for announcements on their Facebook page. I went to the Del Mar Whole Foods for my class. For those in the San Diego area, there are two upcoming classes at the La Jolla location:

March 15^th, 10am – KIDS Sushi 101.  $10 per person:  Located at La Jolla Whole Foods Market (8825 Villa La Jolla Dr La Jolla, CA 92037   Tel: 858.642.6700) ·

March 19^th, 6pm – Adult Sushi 101.  $15 per person: Located at La Jolla Whole Foods Market (8825 Villa La Jolla Dr La Jolla, CA 92037   Tel: 858.642.6700)

As noted above, we were invited to attend the class and didn’t have to pay the $15 fee. I was not further compensated for this review and my opinions are my own.