The main wrapped ingredients are the avocado and crab meat, or, and the optional mayonnaise. The cucumber may have been used since the beginning, or added later, depending on the account. The inside-out roll may be sprinkled on the outside with sesame seeds or tobiko, or masago may be used.
History
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. Less than a month later an Associated Press story credited a Los Angeles chef named Ken Seusa at the Kin Jo sushi restaurant near Hollywood as its inventor. The AP article cited Mrs. Fuji Wade, manager of the restaurant, as its source for the claim. Food writerAndrew F. Smith observes that this claim stood uncontested for more than 20 years. However, more recent scholarship has led to the invention most commonly being attributed to Ichiro Mashita, another Los Angeles sushi chef from the former Little Tokyo restaurant "Tokyo Kaikan". According to this account, Mashita began substituting the toro with avocado in the off-season, and after further experimentation, developed the prototype, back in the 1960s. 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. One story, drawn directly from a firsthand source, was that in 1964, the pair developed a prototype which used cubed avocado, king crab, cucumber and ginger, made into a hand-roll. Other food writers state that the cucumber, mayonnaise, and sesame seed were originally missing, and these ingredients were only added later. The early California roll was wrapped traditional style, with the nori seaweed on the outside, which American customers tended to peel off. Therefore, the roll "inside-out", i.e., uramaki version was eventually developed. This adaptation has also been credited to Mashita by figures associated with the restaurant. More recently 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 was popular with patrons from Los Angeles. According to Tojo, he single-handedly created the California roll at his Vancouver restaurant, including all the modern ingredients of cucumber, cooked crab, and avocado.. However, this conflicts with many food historian's accounts, which describe a changing, evolving dish that emerged in the Los Angeles area. In 2016 Tojo received recognition from the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries for creating the California Roll, being named a goodwill ambassador for Japanese cuisine. Regardless of who invented it, after becoming a favorite in southern California the dish became popular all across the United States by the 1980s. The California roll was featured by Gourmet magazine in 1980, and taken up by a restaurant critic for The New York Times the following year. The roll contributed to sushi's growing popularity in the United States by easing diners into more exotic sushi options. Sushi chefs have since devised many kinds of rolls, beyond simple variations of the California roll. It also made its way to Japan, where it may be called California maki or Kashū Maki.
