While I’m no Julia Child, I’d consider myself fairly adventurous in the kitchen. Cooking Mexican, Thai or Indian flavors? No problem. Sushi, however, is a cuisine I’ve always left to the experts. Despite my decent knowledge of fish and love for wasabi, I have a feeling that there’s more to a tuna roll than meets the eye.

Bei’s new hands-on sushi class, however, introduced me to the ins-and-outs of this culinary challenge. Instructor Chef Max Levy, who trained in Japan, likens sushi to bespoke shoes. “The easy way to think about making sushi is that it’s not an art so much as a craft. Think about guys in Italy who make handmade shoes. They don’t say ‘oh you’re a 7, you’re a 9,’ but they look at the individual shape of each foot, each toe. The same is true for a particular piece of fish.”

It may all seem a little intimidating for a novice, but Levy guides students through the steps so that they leave knowing how to assemble sushi and several styles of rolls. For those who would still rather have their sushi prepared professionally, however, the class aims to teach people more about sushi appreciation so that you’ll be able to better understand the techniques behind that little piece of raw fish.

Captain of the venerable Hatsune Alan Wong also has interesting insights about the skill that goes into sushi. “Even simple sashimi slices all have to be cut a certain way,” he says. “The size and shape has to be exactly the same. It’s all about perfectionism.” Wong also explains that just learning to properly make the shredded radish that accessorizes sushi, “takes about a year and several scars on your thumb.” Even wasabi can become a complex art. Jane Ji of the Grand Hyatt, home to sushi bar Redmoon, told me the chefs there “don’t use wasabi glue or powder but grind fresh [wasabi root] on shark skin” as per Japanese tradition.

While it may not be possible to recreate the identical rolls and slices of an expert chef, and those of us without shark skin will have to make do with wasabi out of a tube, I’m sure my avocado and cucumber rolls will impress dinner guests all the same.