[caymanjim]

Plenty of westerners are not as sheltered from their food as you. Have you never gone fishing and watched your catch die? Have you never boiled a live crab or lobster? You've clearly never gone hunting.

Not to mention the millions of Americans working in the livestock and agriculture business who see up close every day how food comes to be.

A significant portion of the American population engages directly with their food and the death process. Citing one gimmicky example of Asian culture where squirmy seafood is part of the show doesn't say anything about the culture of entire nations. That is not how the majority of Japanese consume seafood. It's just as anomalous there. You only know about it because it's unusual enough to get reported.

You can pick your lobster out of the tank and eat it at American restaurants too. Oysters and clams on the half-shell are still alive when we eat them.

[Dalewyn]

>Plenty of westerners are not as sheltered from their food as you. ... You only know about it because it's unusual enough to get reported.

In case you missed it, you're talking to a Japanese.

Some restaurants go a step further by letting the customers literally fish for their dinner out of a pool. Granted those restaurants are a niche, that's their whole selling point to customers looking for something different.

Most sushi bars have a tank holding live fish and other seafood of the day, though. It's a pretty mundane thing.