Letters to the Editor: L.A. sushi has many delights — and an impact on our planet’s health

To the editor: Your article on Sakae Sushi brought back many fond memories. When I was growing up in Gardena in the 1960s and ’70s, their delicious platters were a mainstay at potlucks and buffets. When the sushi craze hit the U.S., those of us who grew with Sakae were rather nonplussed — we had been enjoying it for years! I’m happy to see that the restaurant is still thriving and wish them many more years of success.

Sara Boretz, Upland

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To the editor: This reader would like to thank Betty Hallock for covering Yoko Hasebe’s work bringing plant-based sushi to Los Angeles, and Jean Trinh for her article on bluefin tuna. Both of these dealt with the very real culpability our world has in overfishing and the resultant low numbers of fish species. The negative impact on nature and society of our ocean ecosystems’ pollution, exploitation and coastal development, as well as the climate crisis leading to higher temperatures affecting our oceans, is becoming apparent and threatens not only the fishing industry but also our lives.

As we watch marine ecosystems be depleted and destroyed, we will need to change our behaviors. We must begin to care for the health of our threatened kelp forests, seagrass meadows, mangroves and coral reefs on which wild fish depend and which help store carbon. Fish farms have many environmental problems. The choice of plant-based foods is daily becoming more available and is a must to address these concerns.

Elaine Livesey-Fassel, Los Angeles

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To the editor: Given the state of our oceans, the Sunday section’s focus on sushi was problematic — but the plant-based sushi article, an attempt at some balance, was good to see.

Sylvia Lewis Gunning, Thousand Oaks