Because sushi—the venerated, refined, exquisite tradition of edible still life from the Japanese Edo period—just isn’t good enough, a California restaurant (from the same state that birthed the sushi croissant) has now invented the sushi donut. According to Los Angeles magazine, Project Poke in Fountain Valley, CA pipes in avocado, crab, or tuna mousse into a ring of rice, then elegantly drapes this rice inner tube with sashimi, sesame seeds, and other accoutrements. Let us state, for the record, that this sounds pretty delicious.
But as with most of these wacky culinary inventions, there’s a formula to becoming a viral hit:
1. Repackage the delivery vehicle into a slightly different, preferably familiar shape.
2. Slap on an attractive and marketable name, ideally consisting of two diametrically opposing foods (e.g. sushi burrito, bacon candy, mackerel éclair etc.)
3. Post pictures onto a visual-based social media channel.
4. Wait for Internet users startled by the bizarre food combination to share post enough times to catch attention of an online content producer.
Project Poke isn’t the only group that stumbled onto this repurposed sushi shape; California Sushi Donuts do pop-up and catering events around Southern California as well.