“California Roll: The Rise of American Sushi,” Featuring Aquamar’s Role in the California Roll Story, Selected for Newport Beach Film Festival
New documentary traces the Southern California creation that brought cultures together and transformed American dining, along with the pioneers who helped take it mainstream
California Roll: The Rise of American Sushi, a new documentary exploring how one distinctly Southern California creation helped transform the way America eats, has been selected for the Newport Beach Film Festival this October.
The film traces the California Roll’s journey from Southern California’s Japanese-American community to a mainstream American favorite, telling the story of the chefs, surfers, entrepreneurs, immigrants and innovators who brought cultures together through food and created something uniquely Californian in the process.
Among those featured is Aquamar founder Taka Iwasaki, part of a generation of seafood pioneers whose work with modern surimi helped solve a critical challenge standing in the way of the California Roll’s growth: access to crab at a cost and supply that could support widespread adoption.
Surimi changed that equation. And Aquamar helped pioneer it.
By providing a consistent, accessible and scalable alternative to crab, surimi helped restaurants take the California Roll beyond its Southern California roots and introduce it to millions more consumers. Aquamar’s founders helped develop the products, production technology and supply capabilities that supported that growth.
Aquamar didn’t enter the surimi category after the California Roll became a phenomenon. It helped pioneer the capabilities that allowed it to become one.
“The chefs who created and popularized the California Roll deserve the credit for an extraordinary culinary innovation,” said Daryl Gormley, CEO of Aquamar. “Aquamar’s founder’s role was helping make that innovation scalable. Surimi helped overcome the cost and supply limitations of crab, making the California Roll accessible to far more restaurants and consumers. That’s a history we’re incredibly proud of, and one that still shapes who Aquamar is today.”
Nearly half a century later, the California Roll has become an icon of American food culture, and surimi seafood is enjoyed around the world. For Aquamar, that history represents more than heritage. It is the foundation for what comes next.
As Aquamar expands its surimi business in the United States and internationally, the company is building on decades of expertise to develop new products, formats and solutions for sushi chefs, foodservice operators, retailers and consumers around the world.
California Roll: The Rise of American Sushi, directed by Bill Sharp, will screen three times during the Newport Beach Film Festival:
- Saturday, Oct. 17 at 2:10 p.m. at Triangle Square Cinemas, Screen 5
- Wednesday, Oct. 21 at 9:00 p.m. at Triangle Square Cinemas, Screen 1, with the festival’s Pacific Rim Celebration to follow
- Thursday, Oct. 22 at 6:00 p.m. at Regal Edwards Big Newport
To celebrate the film, Aquamar will recreate a piece of California Roll history at the Newport Beach Film Festival’s Pacific Rim Celebration with a pop-up inspired by California Beach Rock n’ Sushi, the Newport Beach restaurant featured in the documentary.
The pop-up will bring the story to life through a variety of California Rolls, including versions that pay homage to the original recipe alongside new interpretations featuring international fusion flavors. Together, the menu will celebrate both the California Roll’s roots and the boundless possibilities of a dish that was itself born from the blending of cultures.
Several of the people featured in California Roll: The Rise of American Sushi will also be on hand for the celebration, bringing together the people, food and Southern California culture at the heart of the film.
“The majority of Americans now eat sushi, but few know the story of how it made the leap from Japanese comfort food for expats to an essential cuisine for a big night out,” said director Bill Sharp. “The story is fascinating and entertaining, and this documentary will revisit the fertile creativity of the 1980s through the eyes of the food, surfing and fashion disruptors who were there as it happened.”
Aquamar’s appearance in the film comes during a year of renewed investment in the company’s brand, innovation and capabilities. Its “Big Fish Energy” brand identity celebrates the same California spirit of ingenuity and reinvention that has been part of the company’s story from the beginning.
From helping surimi unlock the potential of the California Roll to developing the next generation of convenient seafood, Aquamar remains focused on the opportunity that has driven it for decades: making great seafood accessible to more people, in more ways, more often.
About Aquamar
Aquamar is where innovative California energy meets serious seafood know-how. Backed by decades of surimi expertise, proprietary production technology and expanding operational capabilities, Aquamar crafts premium surimi and craveable, convenient seafood that delivers on flavor, quality and consistency around the world.
Born in California and fueled by a spirit of culinary innovation, Aquamar’s roots stretch back to the rise of the California Roll. Its founders helped pioneer the surimi products and production capabilities that addressed the cost and supply constraints of crab and helped make one of America’s most iconic sushi creations scalable.
Today, Aquamar continues that tradition by reimagining how seafood fits into modern life and making it more approachable, versatile and convenient. The company operates state-of-the-art, SQF-certified facilities in the Los Angeles and New York City regions and participates in the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certification program.