How the California roll was actually invented by a Canadian chef

• The California roll is a popular sushi roll.
• The origin of the dish is controversial, but it is widely credited to sushi chef Hidekazu Tojo.
• We visit his restaurant, Tojo's, in Vancouver, British Columbia, to hear his story and try out the dish, which is called the Tojo roll.

Following is a full transcript of this video.

- Herrine Ro: Freshly boiled Dungeness crab, strips of avocado, spinach, and egg omelet are all neatly tucked and folded into this familiar-looking sushi roll. This is the Tojo roll. It's a legendary dish because it's widely believed to be the original California roll.

The California roll is a popular dish that's found in many North American sushi restaurants, but the name can be misleading. That's because, according to this chef, the California roll actually comes from his restaurant in Canada.

Hidekazu Tojo: Tojo roll, people call California roll, original.

Herrine: The California roll we know today is commonly made of cucumber, imitation crab, and avocado. At chef Tojo's restaurant, he makes it with fresh Dungeness crab, avocado, spinach, and egg.

Tojo: I came 1971 to Vancouver. That time, no sushi restaurant. Canadian people no eat raw fish. Sometimes they like to say, "I'd like to try same thing that Japanese people eat. OK, but I cannot eat the seaweed." They afraid. "No, no, no, no." OK, if you don't like the seaweed, that's fine. Then I did it inside out.

Herrine: All the ingredients are then rolled together with a sheet of nori on top of a bed of rice.

Tojo: 50% say, "Oh, Tojo, this the wrong idea." Especially Japanese people said, "Seaweed should be outside." I don't mind. If you like it, fine.

Herrine: Instead of garnishing with fluorescent tobiko eggs, chef Tojo uses sesame seeds. By using fully cooked ingredients and hiding the seaweed inside, chef Tojo found a new way to serve a sushi roll that catered to his non-Japanese customers.

Tojo: We called it that time Inside Out. Japanese media, magazine, they say California roll. Biggest Japanese communities, New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Vancouver, but they cover everything "California" in Japan, Japanese media. Oh, they include these or any kind of sushi, California roll. Everything roll, they California roll.

Herrine: With this surge in popularity and various monikers floating around, chef Tojo tried trademarking his roll in the early 1990s.

Tojo: I cannot use my name, because, usually, we don't put our name, because a little bit shy, yeah? But now other restaurant people, they copy, and then, "OK, Tojo," my lawyer, my regular customers say, "Tojo, you must be called Tojo roll and register." But too late.

Herrine: Because his trademark attempt was unsuccessful, the "California roll" at chef Tojo's restaurant is simply called the Tojo Roll.

This, of course, is chef Tojo's story of when and why the famous roll was invented. However, at least two other chefs claim they invented it, and both stories begin the same. The roll was invented in the 1960s to address Americans' aversion to raw fish and seaweed. According to food writer Andrew F. Smith, Ken Seusa, a veteran sushi chef in LA, experimented with nontraditional ingredients for these Western customers, resulting in the creation of the California roll. Around the same time, Ichiro Mashita, a sushi chef in LA's Tokyo Kaikan, supposedly created the roll by using crab and avocado to replace his usual tuna, since the US product was inferior to what was available in Japan, and flipped the roll inside out to hide the seaweed. However, chef Tojo's story seems to be the most widely accepted. The Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries appointed him as a cultural ambassador for Japanese cuisine in 2016.

Before I came into Tojo, I knew that I was going to be stepping into a restaurant where a legend lives. I am salivating, 'cause I just can't wait to dig in. It is shocking that this roll doesn't taste anything like the California rolls that I ate growing up. First of all, it's not covered in that orange tobiko, and the crab is actual crab, it's not imitation crab. It's so much more delicate on the palate. It's just almost like melt in your mouth, and the quality of ingredients are just so much more higher end than the California rolls that you see in, like, your grocery store or just any local sushi restaurant. But I can see how this would be a great, I guess, gateway roll into just sushi. And, normally, I would judge someone if they were to order a California roll, but having chef Tojo's California roll, I would order this again, like, without any second thought, because it's just so good.

Perhaps not everyone believes chef Tojo created the California roll, but his dedication to the craft of sushi has created an expansive list of loyal clientele.

Customer: I think we usually come here, like, once a week. Of course, we go to the other restaurants, but we only enjoy a nice meal over here.

Customer: How long have I been coming to Tojo's? Longer than you've been alive.

Customer: I've been coming here since '92.

Tojo: I'm very foodie. I like to eat good food. So, OK, I don't want to, you know, no give up. Something creative. So then, step up, yeah?

Herrine: Every Wednesday, chef Tojo creates new dishes to expand his creativity.

Customer: There's at least one new dish every time we come. So it's great when somebody feeds you something that you've never had before.

Herrine: Some innovative rolls include the Golden roll, wrapped in an egg crepe, and the Great BC roll, an inside-out barbecued-salmon-skin roll.

Tojo: Maybe I like to keep working. If you stop thinking, that's it. Finished.