Kate Wing's Blog
Sushi, the political force for change
November 6, 2007
Posted by Kate Wing
Andrew Sullivan's blog tipped me off to this wonderful analysis of the "steak vs. sushi" predictive model of political change. Ethan and the folks at Urbanspoon have tracked the correlation between the ratio of steak restaurants to sushi restaurants in a city and who the city voted for in the last presidential election. And while I hope Ethan's statistics teacher actually said "correlation is not causation" if their work on the rise in Google searches for the words steak or sushi are correct, well, 2008 should be good for the Democrats.
But what does this mean for the fish? Well, should these intrepid researchers decide to pursue their research further, I would be interested in restaurant diversity and per capita share of sushi and steak restaurants. After all, a city where 7 out of 10 restaurants are steak joints is clearly more tied to that cuisine than a place where that's 1 in 10, even if it's still more than sushi restuarants. Boston, NY, and the Bay Area all have a lot of restaurants to choose from, some of which serve neither steak nor fish. As we know from our ocean research, diversity offers resilience in times of change, and perhaps fifteen lunch choices are a psychological buffer against the fears of an election gone awry.
As to fish, your sushi was most likely imported, and if it's maguro tuna, you're eating one of the last big giants of the sea. Please savor it appropriately and pick the albacore next time. One can only hope that if our new elected officials really ride the sushi wave to victory that they might be willing to take steps to protect our sushi supplies while they're still swimming in the sea. The sushi, that is. Not the politicians.
Two good books on sushi for your holiday reading pleasure: Tsukiji, by Theodore Beston and The Zen of Fish, by Trevor Corson.
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