Women can’t be sushi chefs. The reason given is that because of their periods, their taste is not balanced. Also, their hands are too warm. This sounds like an old wives tale but this is actually what has been said in the past.

I never gave it much thought. I was in Petaluma and spent a very hard day working cattle (seriously). I wanted a nice meal. This sushi restaurant in downtown Petaluma was recommended to me and I went.

I was shocked to see two women working behind the sushi counter. This was the first time I ever thought of this and did some Google searching on the subject. I requested to sit at the sushi bar and hoped that it would be with one of the ladies. Thankfully it worked out that way.

Of course I went for omakase. I wanted to see what she was capable of. I watched as she expertly cut the fish and took a lot of care with everything.

Everything was exceptionally well balanced. I didn’t even take pictures of everything but it all was amazing. At the end I was super stuffed. And she came around and told me she had one more thing she wanted me to try. We ended with Japanese A5 wagyu. Superb.

An amazing experience and some interesting and ridiculous food history I learned. Apparently only 9% of all sushi chefs in the world are women because of these old wives’ tales.