Do you like hot and spicy foods?

I'm not a big fan of them. I don't mind a little zip but I'm not big on 'hot'. We went to a restaurant in Madison called Jamerica (Jamaican cuisine). They had a jerk tofu that was very spicy but it was so freaking good I couldn't stop eating it.

Take a bite. Have some soda. Take a bite. Wipe the sweat off my brow. Rinse. Repeat.

There's a new Thai restaurant opening up soon in a nearby town. I can't wait! :bounce:

Edited to add... Has anyone every noticed how many of the spicy/hot ethnic foods tend to originate from countries w/hot climates? If you really think about it, most of the spicy/hot stuff seems to come from areas near the equator. I wonder why that is? It seems as if it'd be the other way around. :shrug:

1) Heat (the warmth kind from the sun) is a stressor on pepper plants that makes them generate more capsicum, so hotter climates can grow hotter peppers.

2) There is some evidence that capsicum has antibacterial properties, so using it in food preparation helps in hot climates where food will spoil faster.

both of your explanations I mean. I had no idea that hot peppers have some anti-bacterial qualities. I wonder if it'd help w/a bacterial related respiratory issue as well. It certainly wouldn't hurt to try *in addition to seeing your doctor* of course... (I wouldn't want to be thought of as giving out medical advice :scared:). If nothing else, it'd at least temporarily help w/sinus congestion. :-)

Which cools you off quickly and efficiently. I learned that in some remote non-air-conditioned parts of the Yucatan when I was there.

That too makes alot of sense for people in hot climates... Sort of a poor person's very own internal climate control substance I suppose :-)

5-star hot at a Thai restaurant is way too much for me!
:evilfrown:

They all did really well and my wife made a lot of pepper sauce and fresh salsa with EVERY ingredient coming from our garden - including the cilantro.

We grow cayenne mostly to dry and grind for crushed red pepper flakes.

It's a really convenient place for that. We dry herbs that way too, at least when the dehydrator trays are all filled (we have 24 trays between the two units).

The habanero peppers turn a really gross color of brown when they dry. They still taste good, but they look ugly as sin.

although jerk tofu is a new one on me. I might stick with the chicken.

Hot is good, but once went to a Hunam place on the East side and it was genuine Hunam-- with little devils by some of the menu items. Most of the menu items, actually.

I have never had anything as hot as that stuff. Even the tofu was almost impossible to eat. We were sitting there, macho as all getout, sweating and noses running and coughing but determined to get it all down without complaining.

We did, but it wasn't pleasant.

I don't even like hot (temperature) foods. I like most of my food lukewarm. Can't stand when it's too hot: You can't eat it, or you burn your mouth when you do.

.
.
.
...so her diet was extremely restricted -- a basic rule of thumb
was to "eat white foods" (rice, oatmeal, potatoes, bread, etc.).
.
. With all my medical problems and restrictions, I've always
thought that perhaps those kinds of restrictions would signal the
beginning of the end (subjectively -- and only for me personally).
.
I think it would take away maybe too much of the joy of living
(again for me).
.
I LOVE spicy foods. I have to restrict my salt -- NO problem
whatsoever as there are more interesting things with which to
enhance the flavor of my food.
.
I regret to this day not getting the wings sauce recipe of one
of my friends from the late 80's. She would bring a huge metal
container of them to parties. I would eat one -- and it would be
SO spicy hot on my lips that I just knew that my body couldn't
possibly tolerate another one -- a one-wing self-enforced limit.
.
Beer. Beer. Another healthy swig of cold, soothing beer.
.
Within five minutes, I'd be eying up those wings again -- only
to go through the above process again and again and again
through the night.
.
On the other hand -- I LOVE Thai food. Most Thai chefs have
a 1-5 "heat" rating system by which to order. 3 is usually hot
enough for me (and remember, I LOVE spicy). Once, I went
all-out balls-to-the-wall and ordered my meal prepared at the
"5" level.
.
I started almost literally POURING sweat and I could tell my
face was beet-red -- even my nose seemed to be running like a
faucet. It was SO bad that it was embarrassing -- and I could
barely pay for my meal and run (leaving the leftovers behind --
INCONCEIVABLE!!!).
.

I was raised in the southwest so hot and spicy was the norm. After moving to CO and then Ohio the food was less and less spicy so I'm not as interested in spicing it up as I used to be.

annoying, but a fact of my life.

:hi:

:evilgrin:

fan. So am I, but I'm addicted to all of the hot and spicy food groups.
:P

YES


Tikki

'Nuf ced.

I wonder why.

Gimme a break.

I just said what it was I had. To each his own.

Sounds awful, though.

Don't knock it till you've tried it.

Not any more.

I can't really taste the food. All I can taste and feel is HOT. I wonder if people who eat hot food for a long time eventually lose their ability to taste food that isn't hot.

i don't want to be crying through my meal, but i enjoy a good about of heat

One star was mild, ten stars was blazing hot!

The owner told us he had a customer who wanted his food twice as hot as the ten star curry! The owner said when he made this man's food, he had to wear a face shield and thick rubber gloves.

Now that's hot! How could someone eat that?

Can't live without it. I can't handle the super spicy stuff anymore, but I still love right around Tabasco heat.

not a fan of food that physically hurts me

I was initially surprised when I started to find myself craving more and more heat (peppers, wasabi, tabasco, horseradish). I was even more surprised to find that the heat (in whatever form) actually heightened the flavor of food rather than deadening it - which I (guiltily) assumed it would do.

I am an admitted, full-fledged addict of (at the very least) capsaicin and without any empirical or documented provenance, I am fully convinced that there are healing or at least health benefits of the chemical component of the heat.

One's body definitely builds up a tolerance, and for those who do - there's no turning back, in my experience. The myriad flavors (I far prefer habanero tabasco to the traditional, but dislike the chipotle version, which seems to be dull and weak, with a pretense of smokiness.

True wasabi (very rare to find - it's usually a green food-colored horseradish paste, as wasabi is stunningly expensive) is a dream I hope to realize. I recall the intense heat unlike nothing else - which almost ethereally emphasized the delicate flavors of bean shoots and sauces - flavors that are easily masked by more aggressive flavors. The wasabi (or heat in general) seems to make subtle flavors bloom - though most people believe (logically) that hot components take over all flavor - especially subtle ones. Nothing could be further from the truth.

That said, I'm an addict. I do not have adverse digestive effects from substancial , daily intake of (usually) pepper sauce - quite the opposite.

I never travel without some form of heat in my carry-on, and when I drove a lot, I always ensured there was a bottle of hot sauce in my jockeybox.

Heat is a wonderful thing.... but the phase between intense pain and tolerance (no pain - but addiction) is a long one. Food that hurts makes no sense to me - and the Scovil (sp?) levels have to be respected by anyone who isn't foolish.
I can eat things that friends of mine can't even be in the same room with... (don't know if that's good or bad) : ).

I cherish the enhanced experience of heat... I love how flavors come alive.

but that's just me.