Quirks in Food and People: Hi Mr. Cockroach, meet Mr. Blowtorch!
As I sat at a Japanese restaurant waiting for my food, I saw a speck on the wall. Cockroach! Approximately one centimeter in length, just a tiny one (no, I did not intentionally went and measured it. It is only a rough guess). Since I'm not the type to be squeamish about these things, I didn't scream, although I WAS a bit disgusted at the sight. I called a waiter over and simply pointed at the thing without saying a word. Understanding what I meant, he walked back over to the kitchen and came back with something that looked like an aerosol can. To my surprise, he fired at the thing so quickly I didn't realize that what he was holding was actually a blowtorch. A BLOWTORCH! You know, the kind they use to make crème brulée. It took me a second to realize what had happened before I was able to make any sense of the situation. So, after he fired at the cockroach on the surface of the table (which unfortunately didn't make the meal afterwards quite as appetizing), the p