There are several kinds of people you meet at Harvard, and Willy is the type who is utterly dedicated to his one central passion in life: fishing. He writes articles about fishing for national magazines, he goes on fishing expeditions, he takes classes involving fish, he takes care of fish at a museum, and he’s bartering with the convenience store across the street with fish. He has so much extra fish that he gives the dining hall dozens of pounds of the stuff every week, so they know and love him there.

Willy and his catch

Recently, he’s been hosting sushi parties where he’ll cut up his catch and serve it nigiri style with sugared and vinegared rice, wasabi, and soy sauce. It’s amazing how much sushi one tuna produces, and needless to say, he was knocking on doors afterwards giving the rest of his haul away.

It was interesting to eat since there was a heartfelt simplicity and story to the meal, and a certain bareness: raw fish that my friend had caught with his own hands, rice, soy sauce, all eaten in a dorm common room. Sushi had gone from being somewhat impenetrable to almost too real, with unshaped flaps of the deep pink flesh piled in a dining hall salad plate and seeing my friend’s hands packing a log of rice with the heat still rising from the bowl.

Related posts:

1. Masa’s in Porter Square Exchange Mall serves some really awful sushi
2. So fresh it’s wriggling: Sushi at Fish Market in Allston
3. North End Scallops, Porter Sushi, Audio Slideshows: A busy weekend
4. Those who feed us
5. The Best Hairy Crab Roe in Shanghai, or, a Shanghai Dining Editor’s Must Eats List