I can’t imagine why anyone would make someone feel bad about what they’re eating. I love sushi, but I’d never guilt anyone into eating it. I’d encourage them to try a piece or two, but I’d never make them feel bad. Maybe start with a piece of barbecued eel drool or tamago (fried egg sushi) yum!
Ok, I think I’m getting sushi for lunch today!
Slight hijack -
Like Steve Wright was saying - “Hot Jocks” get on my nerves, too. I love hot food, and I can take some really hot stuff, but I know some people who feel as though everyone will think they have a small penis unless they make a point of telling the waiter “How hot is it? Can you make it hotter. Bring it on baby!”
My neighbor likes to make chili and it would be really good, except he insists on making it way way too hot by not only cooking it with a bunch of jalapenos, but also dumping in some “Billy Bob’s Ball Bustin’ Hot Sauce” or somesuch.
It’s kind of like some folks who think music with million note guitar wanking is better because the guitarist is playing all those meaningless mechanical scales really fast, instead of it being a good song…
Hey Stephi! Nice to know there is someone else out there who likes tamago. It’s a favorite of mine, but nobody else seems to like it much.
Great cavorting hornytoads!
What part of the state is your friend from? I’ve never seen anything like that mucilaginous glop anywhere around these parts.
Now, me, I don’t care for uni’s texture much but I adore hamachi and particularly crave that succulent delight that is unagi.
Sushi is Beelzebub’s wang sliced into bite-sized pieces, and everyone I know who eats it is a total snot-face.
Now, excuse me while I go pick up a poutine.
Well, I have to confess to forcing my parents to try sushi when they came to Japan for the first time. In this case, it was revenge for all the gross stuff they forced me to eat when I was a kid (which I told them). I even got to use the “how do you know you don’t like it if you’ve never tried it?” line. 
I too like the tamago. The local sushi joint always includes it in the “Sushi Deluxe Lunch Special”, so I started eating it just because it was there, but now I really like it. Can’t get MrWhatsit to try it, though… “Sweet cold egg, huh? Um… I’ll give that a pass.”
Next time your sushi darers challenge you send them to me for hatahata-sushi, nama-nari-zushi, or one of the other varieties of fermented (rotten) fish sushi. Or you could always send them around to my favorite yakitori shop for chicken breast and gizzard sashimi, whole roasted sparrow, or roasted chicken beaks (I’ve eaten all, and regularly eat the first two).
It really cranks my handle when people play Stupid Dominance Games with their food.
I happen to like sushi. I also completely understand why some people do not like sushi - maybe they don’t like fish as a category, maybe they don’t like the texture, maybe they are just very set in their eating habits. It’s all cool.
I like to introduce people to sushi. I take them to a nice, quiet place that isn’t too busy. I encourage them to order someting non-sushi as well, so if they don’t like they have something else to eat. Sometimes I’ll let the cook know it’s this person’s first time, because I’ve always found sushi chefs to be true artists, very proud of their work, and very much they want people to enjoy the food. My first time the chef asked me what sort of fish I liked. When I said salmon he started me out on that, and things of similar texture and flavor intensity which was a very nice introduction. I’ve known other sushi chefs to do the same thing - perhaps a crab/shrimp lover would be introduced through that. After all, it’s usually the first experience that makes or breaks your opinion. I once took an avocado lover out for sushi and they wound up eating that and never got to the fish varieties until their 3rd or 4th trip.
I frequently start people off with vegetarian sushi. It gets them away from the “raw fish” concept, which is only a part of the sushi experience. More of an exotic salad, with more familar textures and flavors. It also costs less, which takes some of the tension out of those first experiences. Some people only want vegee sushi, which is OK by me.
Personally, I won’t eat anything that still has eyeballs on it (I hate it when the food stares back) or tentacles. I’ve eaten enough squid/octopus in various preparations to know I just don’t like to eat the critters. If I was starving to death - yes. But I’ve yet to find myself in serious danger of that.
I’ve pretty much settled into eating keppa and futomaki rolls, and salmon, mackeral, and tuna nigiri right now, with maybe one new item every 2nd or 3rd time just for variety and adventure. If I’m in the mood. Usually the husband comes with me, has his shrimp fried rice and maybe one nigiri (he feels sushi is OK, but he doesn’t go out of his way for it). Typically a very pleasent evening.
And maybe once a year go out with other sushi fans, spend way too much money, and try a whole bunch of new things. But with a group the “risk” is spread around more - buy some weird maki maybe you don’t like it, but in a group of five or more somebody will so it won’t go to waste.
And if someone starte Stupid Dominance Games I whimp out by looking all frail and delicate and whimpering “But I’m only a little girl…” 'Cause that’s the really cool thing about being a woman - you never have to prove how much of a man you are.
My dad once got a tapeworm from some such place as this. I didn’t see it, but I sure heard an earful about it. “Ay, putaningaka! I pulled part of a goddamn worm out of my ass!” The doctor gave him some medicine that let his stomach digest the worm’s normally indigestible skin. I’ve had to give my cats similar treatment on occasion. My mom’s rule is a good one I think: If the sushi place isn’t sparkly clean, beware.