Cultural differences, and awareness of them

I have never peeled shrimp before, which caused something of a stir in the kitchen of the WWOOF farm that I stayed at. I guess the Italian girl expected me to be able to peel shrimp. It isn't a horribly unreasonable expectation, but when I told her that I had never done it before, it suddenly became big news. Are shrimp often pre-peeled in the US? I don't know. Over the past few years I got into the habit of eating the outside as well, so I haven't bothered to peel them: when I able to comfortably eat the skin, what is the point?

Sometimes I feel a desire to express something about multiculturalism or different cultural backgrounds in righteous anger, and it is a practice in both humility and self-control to not speak out indignantly at the fact that it is thought to be usual that I have never performed X action which is common in their (sub-?)cultures, but the fact that they have never performed Y action (which is common to other cultures in the world) in not considered. I have never berated anyone for being unable to make 饺子 or to use chopsticks, because I have no expectation that someone not introduced to this things should be able to use them. It would be just as ludicrous for me to expect a random Chinese friend of mine to know what gazpacho is and how to make it; it is culturally specific. Similarly, I have an assumption that they have not been introduced to these things until proven otherwise (maybe I consider people innocent in their ignorance until it is proven that they 'should' know?) Such speech strikes me as inconceivably petty, though, merely indulging in my own desire to feel righteous and express that I have been offended, while not serving any significant goals nor accomplishing anything. In fact, I have few doubts that such a declaration (outburst, dare I say) would insert a decidedly negative air into my relations with people.

Am I just highly aware of this? As a person that has so far entered his third country, I think that I am becoming more conscious of the differences in the ways that people live their lives. Perhaps it is my awareness of these differences that causes me to be so shocked when people assume that other people have had, or should have had, similar experiences to them.

Concerning the people on the WWOOF farm with me, I repeatedly state that I have not done such and such in this way before (because it would be a lie to say that I have not done some of these things before, but it would also be misleading to let them think that I had done things just like this). For instance, I have used a stove before; but I have never used a gas stove before. Another simple example is peeling potatoes. Remi told me that I should peel it toward myself, using my thumbs. For me, this is much slower than cutting away from myself, so I suspect that people observing me extrapolate that I cannot peel potatoes in general, rather than attributing it to the specific context. I see cooking in general as similar; in a kitchen with many unfamiliar ingredients and which is lacking many of my preferred cooking materials I am understandably handicapped. I think that I am the only one who sees it this way, though, which everyone else just thinking that I lack skills and experience, while I think that I have different skills and experience (or to phrase it differently, we lack common skills and experiences).

Should I approach every situation assuming that I lack common experiences with other people until I have reason to believe otherwise? I wonder what Kwame Anthony Appiah would say? All opinions concerning philosophy and religion aside, WWKAAD does not roll off the tongue nearly as smooth as WWJD does, though.