Throughout history, there has been a legacy of delicious duos. Soup met
	  crackers, peanut butter courted jelly, and ham was introduced to eggs.
	  Recently, a new duo has joined the ranks of great culinary creations:
	  sushi and sake. Move over wine and cheese, you’ve got competition.

	Sake, while it is Japanese for “alcoholic beverage,” has a more specialized
	  meaning in America. Here, sake generally refers to a drink brewed from rice,
	  more specifically, a drink brewed from rice that goes well with a rice roll.
	  Some people even refuse to eat raw fish without this escort.

	Sushi, as an entrée, is something people either love or hate. For those who
	  have never tried it, sushi can seem unappealing. Some people don’t like
	  the concept of eating raw fish, others aren’t willing to try something new,
	  and, naturally, some people fear a protest from the Little Mermaid.
	  Whichever apprehension people have about sushi, the existence of sake
	  has helped the raw fish industry; sushi must raise its glass in a toast.
	  Sake, single handedly, has helped reel people into the raw fish craze.

	Perhaps this is based on sake’s natural ability to enhance sushi, or perhaps
	  it’s based on the fact that novices find it easier to eat raw fish once they are
	  a tad tipsy. Whatever the reason, sake and sushi are a winning combination.
	  But, of course, they aren’t the only combination.

	Like most wine, sake goes with more than one thing: sushi and sake are not
	  in a monogamous relationship. Instead, sake is very versatile; it is able to
	  be served alone, or with a variety of other foods. Some of these foods
	  include Tempura, Chinese Food, and Yakitori.

	The history of sake is not as cut and dry as the food it enhances; sake’s
	  past is not well documented and its existence is filled with ambiguities.
	  There are, however, a great number of theories floating around.
	  One theory implies that sake began in 4800 B.C. with the Chinese, when
	  it was created along the Yangtze River and eventually exported to Japan.
	  A completely different theory suggests that sake began in 300 A.D. when
	  the Japanese began to cultivate wet rice. However it began, sake was
	  deemed the “Drink of the God’s,” a title that gave it bragging rights over
	  other types of alcohol.

	In a page straight out of the “Too much information” book, sake was first
	  made from people chewing rice, chestnuts, acorns, and millets and
	  spitting the combination back out into a tub. The starches, when
	  combined with enzymes from saliva, turned into sugar. Once combined
	  with grain, this sugar fermented. The end result was sake.

	In later years, saliva was replaced by a mold with enzymes that could also
	  turn rice into sugar. This discovery undoubtedly helped pave the way for
	  sake to become the item it is today. Yes, there is nothing quite like taking
	  spit out of a product to help it flourish.

	Though sake initially began to increase in quality and in popularity, it was
	  dealt a hefty spill when World War II broke out. During this time,
	  the Japanese government put restrictions on rice, using the majority of it
	  for the war effort and lessening the amount allotted for brewing.

	When the war concluded, sake began to slowly recover from its proverbial
	  hang over and its quality began to rebound. But, by the 1960’s, beer, wine
	  and other alcoholic beverages posed competition and sake’s popularity
	  once again began to decline. In 1988, there were 2,500 sake breweries in
	  Japan; presently, that number has been reduced by 1,000.

	Sake, though it should be refrigerated, can be served in a variety of
	  temperatures: cold, warm, or hot. In Japan, the temperature is usually
	  dictated by the temperature outside: sake is served hot in the winter
	  and cold in the summer. When consumed in the US, sake is typically
	  served after it is heated to body temperature. More seasoned drinkers,
	  however, prefer to drink it either at room temperature or chilled.

	Unlike many other types of wine, sake does not age well. It is typically only
	  aged for six months and then should be consumed within a year. Sake is
	  also higher in alcohol than most types of wine, with most types of sake
	  having between a 15 and 17 percent alcohol content. The flavor of sake
	  can range from flowers, to a sweet flavor, to tasting of, go figure, rice.
	  It can also be earthy and the aftertaste can either be obvious or subtle.