"There are plenty of cultures around the world that do not indulge in it at all. Across almost all of Africa south of the Sahara (Arabs are big kissers), and in most Asian and Pacific societies, kissing has precious little place as either a ritual or a sexual gesture, and there is lots of evidence to suggest that the inveterate present-day kissers of Latin America - the Argentines are particularly keen - knew nothing of it whatsoever until the first European settlers arrived. The Chinese still find the whole idea deeply suspect." (thanks Maryam)