This Wikipedia article blew me away. Apparently, the sinus-incinerating green paste we all eat with sushi is not genuine wasabi. It's horseradish dyed green. This, like so many petty other things, upsets me to no end. We call this horseradish stuff "wasabi" even though it's not even from the same genus of plants as real wasabi!
How, then, did we reach the naming convention that we did? Is there some massive conspiracy in the Japanese food market? Real wasabi is expensive and difficult to transport, sure, but that's no reason to dupe us into believing we're eating something exotic when in reality we're eating something boring and ordinary! Something bordinary! Maybe this is bad knowledge to possess. Perhaps the next time I eat at a sushi bar, the food will taste like ash in my mouth. Ash seasoned with lies.
Now I feel obligated to import some real-McCoy wasabi (called "hon-wasabi" in the biz) and compare the two substances. It'd be an interesting taste test, to be sure. But how to obtain it....
