@Doomer There are surprisingly a lot of non Japanese that likes Sashimi though. In fact, I prefer sashimi over steamed fish and some chinese style fried fish, definitely more than internal organs. Never tried carpacchio though. That being said, my non-existent sense of smell may have something to do with it as all the people I know that hates raw fish are either...
1. Hates eating cold food unless it's ice cream.
2. Hates the 'fishy smell', whatever that is, I can't smell ;_;
3. Hates seafood in general
4. Culturally intolerant to raw food (i.e refuse to even try it. Also me, before I eventually tried it.)
5. All of the above.
There are also different types of sushi/sashimi thing with very different taste. Which one did you try and from where? I am interested.
i.e. Salmon tasted fine to a friend. Sea Urchin gets the "Dear Gods! No! Keep that 100m away from me!" treatment.
Also, what stories did you read? The stories I read don't have sushi being the 'superior food'. Its always curry. Any and all types of fking curry.
@lazygeko I am an adventurous person so I tried natto... not in Japan though so it may be a discount knockoff. It tasted like coffee (which I hate) :/. Some slimy bitter weirdness. Its probably an acquired taste. And yes, Carpaccio is an italian food. As far as culture is concerned it is more a matter of whether they would even try the food. I personally believe there is not much variety in the middle ages so almost anything modern would 'taste good' provided the others are willing to take a first bite.
On a completely unrelated note, I hate internal organs. With permission, I took a bite out of my aunt's foie gras. Tasted like dirt. Then there is fried pork intestines(crunchy, oily, supposedly goes well with congee porridge), monkey brains(it exists once upon a time, never tried it, don't give me that look.), the heart-of-some-creature-mixed-with-something-else-from-somewhere-and-is-considered-a-delicacy-which-my-brother-in-law-once-told-me-about-but-i-can't-remember, fish/prawn/crab heads (brains included because it was never removed). Pork bloods (taste like bad jelly to me but I am the one that hates it so...)
I ALSO hate fishballs... and fishcake, and fishnoodles. So that fishball dish looks really unappetizing. Even then, fishball is something popular and widely eaten in the East so this is... believable.
@Metal_Storm Nope. My country borders the ocean and does not have any of its own variation on "Raw Fish/Meat + Binding Agent + Slight Curing Liquid/Solid". Just saying.
Though I agree on Sashimi being 'unremarkable' in terms of 'cooking' (the knifework of some masters are good though) Basically, I treat it like salad.