There was never anything wrong with avocados. The problem was white people and their sudden enthusiasm for them. You would go to a restaurant and some cracker waitress would make you watch her make mediocre guacamole at your table like it was a magic show.
It’s true, though, and even later in time than that. A good chunk of the book “Shogun” is taken up by the revulsion of the Japanese (who bathe regularly) to the truly filthy state of the visiting European sailors
