Sushi is not the only dish that was served outside during the Edo-period but is now considered a mainstay of Japanese restaurant cuisine. Other examples include tempura and soba (buckwheat noodles), which were available from stalls for people on the go. Edo period tempura was made with seafood and vegetables like burdock and lotus root. The dish, which requires the use of large volumes of cooking oil, was hard to make with the limited kitchen facilities most households had at the time, so it was generally reserved for eating out either in restaurants or at stalls.

Every district had at least one soba eatery, and there also were many stalls serving both soba and udon (wheat noodles). But as fire was a constant hazard in Edo, the stallholders who traveled the city with their wares - and with the fires that were needed to cook the food they served - were subject to restrictions imposed by the shogunate. Yet this very ability to move around at will was the secret of the stalls' success, especially in Edo, which was home to large numbers of solitary men. In addition to the stalls, all manner of ready-prepared dishes were available from salespeople who roamed the city streets. This, coupled with a booming restaurant industry, gave Edo a reputation as a gourmet's paradise where people could get by without cooking any of the day's three meals themselves. Although the costs of such a lifestyle would of course soon mount up, the ready availability of such a variety of eating-out options must have been reassuring for busy Edo residents or people coming to the city from provincial areas.

The productivity of surrounding farming villages and the rich variety of seafood found in Edo Bay (now Tokyo Bay) were key factors in the development of the city's food service industry. Foods first eaten in the Edo period remain standards of Japanese - and more particularly Tokyo - cuisine today. Examples include the vegetables Nerima daikon (Nerima radish) and komatsuna (Japanese mustard spinach), which were first cultivated in the Edo period and used to prepare such dishes as pickled radish and zoni (New Year's soup with rice cakes).

The market for buckwheat noodles was already competitive in the Edo period, with restaurants stressing the place of origin of their noodles in order to attract diners. Among these regional "brands," noodles produced near the Jindaiji temple had an especially good reputation, and this district remains famous for its soba outlets to this day.

The word Edo-mae, literally meaning "front of Edo," was originally coined to describe Edo Bay and the seafood taken from it, but it eventually came to be used in reference to Edo-style food, which generally means food prepared with fresh, high-quality seafood - and particularly to sushi prepared with such ingredients. I always find it strange to see signs saying "Edo-mae" at provincial sushi restaurants.

Prawns, flounder, eel, and mackerel were just some of the abundant marine resources found in Edo Bay, into which several rivers flowed. This bounty may have been what sustained so many sushi and tempura stalls, as both foods involve a lot of seafood. Another vital ingredient in sushi is dried laver, and laver harvested from the bay and sold in the district of Asakusa had a particularly good reputation. Light yet with a substantial appearance, Asakusa laver was a popular souvenir among visitors to the city.

In the modern world, where sushi restaurants have become commonplace in many parts of the world and where a multitude of cuisines are mingled together, it is interesting to reflect on the story of how traditional dishes became popular.