DFriend's parents were in Tokyo in the eighties. Never eaten Japanese food before. Went to a sushi restaurant.
Mum had too much wasabi and went into a coughing, spluttering mess, bright red, eyes streaming. Her 'DH' (actually a lovely man) was hissing across the table for her to have some water and what on earth was wrong, did something go down the wrong way. She just shook her head and waited. He had a gobful of wasabi, thinking it was avocado and the rest is history ( they still tell the story, forty years later, and still have their audience in stitches every time!)