Japanese culture has more or less made peace with the fact that the things we eat used to be alive. Part of the reason people in Japan say itadakimasu, literally “I will receive,” at the start of a meal is to verbalize their gratitude for receiving the life of the ingredients that make up the dishes. Sashimi that’s served still moving is considered a delicacy, because what’s fresher than seafood that’s arguable not even entirely dead?
Still, even Japan generally has limits of how much it wants to imagine the former life of the tasty morsels it’s dining on, which is why one startling fried chicken advertisement is drawing a mixture of gasps and chuckles.