Sea urchin? No thanks.

I like to think of myself as a fairly adventurous eater, who'll eat anything (except olives, but that's another story), however I have to say that my recent trip to Japan threw up a few challenges.  

Running through the itinerary on the first day, our host Minoko worriedly asked if there was anything I couldn't eat. No, no, I said breezily. Even tofu? Love it! Raw fish? Delicious; can't wait! How about for breakfast? Sure, why not?

Nobody mentioned sea urchin.

I first came across this "delicacy" at the Tsukiji fish markets, where we had a sushi breakfast after watching the fresh tuna auction (not usually open to visitors) on our second day. Leaving the selection of the fish in the expert hands of the chef, we were treated to an array of sushi made from familiar and not so familiar fish. Made fresh in front of us, the chef added additional pieces to our plates as fast as we could eat them. As each new batch arrived the translator who'd accompanied us to the markets helpfully identified them for us: yellow tail, sea eel, bonito, flatfish, squid, crab, mackeral, tuna, salmon roe, sea urchin (below, second from left)...

"You must try the sea urchin," she cried, pointing to a piece of sushi topped with a substance more closely resembling something the cat regurgitated than fish. "It's delicious!"

Okaaay... Unable to blithely pop the whole piece in my mouth but not wanting to offend, I plucked a small piece of sea urchin off the top to at least try. Oh dear. I'm sure many people find sea urchin delicious but for me this is one of those occasions when you absolutely can judge a dish on appearances. The aggressive flavour had more than a hint of offal, and a texture like sloppy foie gras.

Several days later, fronting up for lunch and a sushi-making class in Sapporo, the chef asked if there was anything I could eat. "Sea urchin," I piped up. "I tried it in Tokyo and I didn't like it."

"Oh no," he said. "You just haven't had good sea urchin."

Yep, here it was again, in all it's gloopy glory.

And no, I couldn't eat it this time either.

I also couldn't bring myself to eat abalone liver or the raw prawn that came next, and I struggled to get the scallop down after the chef told us that it was still alive when he sliced it.

Later in the trip, I declined to try the kinky fish eyeball in my soup in Lake Shikotsu, despite assurances that they're great for renewing collagen in the skin, or the pork internal organ soup served in Okinawa.

I guess I'm not as adventurous as I thought...