She is NOT a fan of spicy hotness. Up until the "magical" age of two or so, she really seemed to enjoy highly spiced foods, but sometime thereafter it was like a scene in adventure movie, where the huge, lead door comes barreling down and BOOM! Whole new freakin' ball-game where even black pepper sprinkles put her off.
When she asked the question, both her Dad and I were really stymied for an answer. I don't know "why" I like hot and spicy foods. She suggested that it was simply about "macho-ness" and I certainly understand why she thinks that: So many (usually white) boys seem to think that being able to tolerate insane levels of heat in their food makes them somehow more "manly." I just love cooking up a batch of green chili for these boys and watching them sweat and wipe their brows and drink copious amounts of liquid as they partake. My husband - the Thai man who was literally weaned on fire - drips buckets when he eats my green chili. When I order food in a Thai restaurant, I specify "Thai hot" and I always, ALWAYS get a very mild dish and it really pisses me off. Even when they say "Are you sure?" and I answer "Yes, I'm SURE, I've been married to a Thai man for almost thirty years so I know what I'm asking for!" While I appreciate them asking that, because I'm sure they get a shitload of "I am a MANLY guy who can take it" types who then end up sending the dish back, I'm sitting there with an obviously Thai man and I'm saying "YES, I am SURE" and they still hold back. GRRR!
I don't particularly want all of my food hot. For instance, one of the guys who sits in the back of my mind as I type this is a huge fan of fiery hot cheetos and other such snacks. I prefer my cheetos cheesy, not fiery. On the other hand, I recently found a recipe for Mexican brownies that, while not spicy hot, were spicy GREAT.
I guess I could google and find out why we spicy-HOT lovers enjoy our spicy hotness. But I'd really rather hear other people's thoughts on it. If you love certain dishes hot Hot HOT, tell me and try to explain why. The best I could come up with when Rindy-Rose asked at dinner tonight was "It's a great sinus-clearer."
Good Morning! I must say that hot 'n spicy is a favourite of mine. I also love to whip up a chili from hell for the macho guys who think they can eat anything. My husband loves the stuff too. Growing up, I was a huge fan of black pepper -only hot spice in mom's kitchen. Now I grow/buy/barter/beg for peppers and enjoy every bite. I get the same feeling, after eating a nice hot chili or spaghetti sauce, as when I eat chocolate or ice cream. It's soothing/comforting and makes me feel all warm and tingly inside. Hope that helps to answer your question-BTW had to make a different e mail to reply-you know who I am;)
ReplyDeleteI am not sure why either....my hubby loves spicy food more than me...I like spicy, but he LOVES spicy and the spicier/hotter the better....he is happiest when he is sweating bullets/chugging a beer to quench the fire from a fantastically hot/spicy meal. We have found a great hot sauce called Matouk's, now they make several varieties, and he loves the scotch bonnet pepper one (orangey-red in colour) and finding them in these parts of Canada can be tough...I finally found a store that carries them locally as before when the store I used to get them at stopped stocking it, I ordered from a U.S. web-site direct...anyway, back to your question, I love that 'zingy' feeling of biting into something spicy, it gives a whole new dimension to food and I find it can enhance the flavour of a dish as long as you control how much you put in so as you don't smother the other flavours....but some people (like hubby) love things hotter and I really do not know why you would want to burn your tongue off but hey, whatever floats your boat! :) Great blog Deb....gives one lots to ponder... ;)
ReplyDeleteHi, Deb! I came late to the loving of spicy things--probably due to the Swedish-style food and the bland Utah-style food I grew up with. Those little taste buds on the tongue have a lot to do with this! The sad thing for me now is that my hubby has acid reflux and so can't take a whole bunch of spice like he used to! I get most of mine from take-out now! Leave it to you, Deb, for posing this question! :)
ReplyDeleteHmmm well for me growing up in Ireland food was BLAND the ONLY herbs my mom cooked with were Thyme & Parsley. On the VERY VERY VERY rare occasion we would get Garlic Bread with our Spaghetti Bolognaise! I tasted Curry for the first time when I was about 18 and had my first Chili around the same age!! I do like Spicy but NOT TOO HOT.Funny my kids have been introduced to spicy foods since they were old enough to eat what we are eating and 1 likes it mild spicy 1 likes it medium spicy and 1 likes it as spicy as me!! The other one is a typical Irish Man loves his "Spuds" and meat and the closest he will get to spicy is Garlic Bread!!! I guess its just in the taste buds, I wonder is there some Bilogical/Genetic reason for liking spicy or not?? Great Blog Deb!!
ReplyDeleteHi Deb :) I can't really answer why people like the hot and spicy since I am a heat wimp! Can't handle it. But my boys have always loved the heat. From the time they were very little the hotter the better. I don't understand it. You cracked me up about the white boys and heat! Sounds just like my two little guys :) They like to try and out do each other on the heat. So far my youngest has won that battle. He slathered a taco with Habanero sauce and ate the whole thing even though he had tears running down his face!
ReplyDeleteI've always loved spicy food, but since my gastric bypass surgery, I crave it. The hotter, the better. I've always believed that what you crave is what your body needs - there's some nutrient or something in it that your body needs. Part of a gastric bypass,medically, is that they remove the acid-producing portions of the stomach. Bye-bye heartburn and acid reflux! So... here's my theory - those of us who crave hot/spicy foods must need a little more acid in the tummy to help digest - and those that don't, have plenty of acid. Just a theory - totally negated by the people that love spicy food and suffer for hours and hours with heartburn afterwards....
ReplyDeleteWell, I guess my first experiences were when my moms ex-boyfriend who was a chef introduced me to cajun....Oh, the tears I cried. It was either eat it or go without, so I got used to the spicy food, and he liked it spicy! After they slit up I stopped eating spicy food. That all changed when I met my husband, he is from Mexico and loves, loves spicy food! I remember the first time I tried his moms hotsauce, it set my mouth on fire. Now I love it, I guess ive just gotten used to the fire-y feeling in my mouth and have come to enjoy it. That little bit of perspiration, and the napkin to wipe your brow. I think it comes from how were raised and the foods we grow up eating.
ReplyDeleteThere are 2 things for me to relate here so I'll start with something I was told when I was at University ... "When you eat spicy hot food, your body produces anti-bodies to counteract the spiciness. The chemicals produced by your body to do this job are actually powerfully addictive"
ReplyDeleteNow we get to teh second thing ... in his series "In Search of Perfection", Heston Blumenthal chose to do one week a "Chili con Carne". In his research he found a hot and spicy oil and got an assistant to be in an MRI, where they rigged up a dripper to drop one drop of this fiendish oil onto the tongue of the poor 'victim' every 30 seconds I think it was. The brain scans showed that the spicy reaction was to light up certain areas in the brain, and it was noticeable that these areas that were lit up were all right next to the pleasure areas that light up when you find something pleasureable! So maybe that is why we spice-aholics love it so much!
LOL, great blog and question. I'm totally enjoying the comments. I like it more the older I get. I didn't care for it at Rindy-Rose's age. I think my taste buds have calmed (or died a bit) & I can handle it better.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm, that really IS a great question, but one I don't have the answer to! Growing up, my dad ALWAYS enjoyed hot/spicy food. I remember him putting so much tabasco sauce in his oodles of noodles (yes, we only ate high-class foods, lol) that the broth was literally red, RED. He always grew a TON of hot peppers (still does)and would eat them like nothing, just pick one off the vine and eat it as is.. I, myself like mild to medium spicy food. I like a little heat, but not the kind of heat that makes my mouth numb and I can't taste right for a week, lol. My husband LOVES hot/spicy foods too and even Gabe loves spicy. I think Rin made the 'macho' statement because (in my expierence anyway), you see more men wanting things hotter/spicier than women. This is another case of 'questions that may never be answered', lol! :)
ReplyDeleteI love spicy. Don't have a clue as to 'the why' of it. My hubby loves spicy because he thinks that the spicy flavor tricks the brain into not feeling hungry, hence his use of tabasco on any breakfast food. He says it might be a long time til lunch! My daughter used to love hot foods but I see a change coming in the last few years.
ReplyDeleteGreat question and blog, Deb! I grew up around reasonably spicy foods, mostly Mexican and Italian, and as an adult have been exposed to and have come to love Indian, Thai and other spicy Asian dishes. I like a good medium hot -- hot enough to make me break a sweat, but not so hot I can't appreciate the flavor. Not hot, for hots sake, but for tastes sake. Oooh, and let's not forget good hot English mustard! And, (weird, I know) I like fine ground black pepper and black pepper flavor, but HATE big chunks of cracked ground pepper.
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