For other uses, see California Roll. As one of the most popular styles of sushi in Canada and the United States, the California avocado roll sushi has been influential in sushi’s global popularity, and in inspiring sushi chefs around the world to create non-traditional fusion cuisine.
The identity of the creator of the California roll is disputed. Several chefs from Los Angeles have been cited as the dish’s originator, as well as one chef from Vancouver. The earliest mention in print of a ‘California roll’ was in the Los Angeles Times and an Ocala, Florida newspaper on November 25, 1979. Others attribute the dish to Ichiro Mashita, another Los Angeles sushi chef from the former Little Tokyo restaurant “Tokyo Kaikan”.
Accounts of these first ‘California Rolls’ describe a dish very different from the one today. Early California roll recipes used frozen king crab legs, since surimi imitation crab was not yet available locally and importing it was not convenient. Japanese-born chef Hidekazu Tojo, a resident of Vancouver since 1971, claimed he created the California roll at his restaurant in the late 1970s. Tojo insists he is the innovator of the “inside-out” sushi, and it got the name “California roll” because it consisted of the ingredients crab and avocado. Regardless of who invented it, after becoming a favorite in southern California the dish became popular all across the United States by the 1980s.