The entry of Norwegian salmon onto the global sushi plate can be described as a disruption . It opened up a new market for Norwegian salmon, in which margins were substantially higher and volume eventually exploded during the rise of the global sushi trend.

Have you eaten raw salmon in the last week? I have. Salmon occurs on every sushi menu from Tokyo to Kigali and appears to be a sushi ingredient of long-standing tradition and authenticity.

The truth is, prior to 1985, serving raw salmon to a Japanese was unthinkable. This, however, changed forever with a Norwegian government trade initiative named “Project Japan”.

Superior salmon

Japanese have long-standing traditions for serving raw fish, but the consumption of raw salmon was unthinkable in the early 1980s. While inferior to its Atlantic counterpart in size and meat quality, the Pacific salmon also suffers greatly from parasites and is considered uneatable, if not thoroughly heat-treated. Salmon, as a food fish, had long been present at the bottom of the Japanese market, but only as grilled, fried or smoked products selling at relatively low margins. The higher margin segments – raw fish served as sushi and sashimi – were dominated by suppliers of tuna, a very expensive commodity.