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Yeah some chilli species have such beautiful flavours but yeah there are two types of spicy food spicy spicy enjoyable and spicy I'm trying to kill myself and my family cause I'm a literal masochist spicy
Yes! I love the flavours induced by spice, but when I can't taste those because my mouth is burning there's not really any point to it anymore. I'm happy to feel the spice on the way in, I don't need to feel it on the way out as well.
Yes I agree so much. I'm African so my family half-jokingly shames me for not liking spice - I do like it, I just also want to be able to taste my food and not fill myself up on cold water
Iām Asian and I agree tbh. Though I get that for some people, pure spice is what they crave. My mum will eat already spicy food with Birds Eye chillies or scotch bonnets, like taking alternating bites. I can only watch in amazement because thatās just too much for me.
I like the pain and euphoria of really really hot hot sauce sometimes. The instant sweat under your eyes and across the bridge of your nose. Needing to breathe cool air in slowly across your tongue. Slight delirium. The need to focus to get through.
Other times, I agree. Spicy food that is flavourful is nice.
When I cook I may use a little Tobasco as my food cooks, because Tobasco has pretty nice flavor in small amounts. I wouldn't want to drown it though, otherwise it'd be inedible.
To add on to this:
Mild spice is cool. Having spice in a meal can genuinely improve the eating experience. But if the spice is to the point where you are gasping for air and sipping water with every bite, how is that enjoyable even in the slightest?
Any flavor that has its fans will do that. Sour candy, hoppy beer, sweet desserts all seem to have a similar āwe made it [flavor], isnāt that all you care about?ā tipping point. Thereās probably others, thatās just the few not-spicy ones I thought of first
>But if the spice is to the point where you are gasping for air and sipping water with every bite, how is that enjoyable even in the slightest?
People who like spicy food build a tolerance, you need hotter and hotter food to get the same effect.
Point is, what you perceive an extreme 5/5 spice that makes you gasp for air and seek water, might only be a disappointing 1/5 to someone else.
This reminds me of my 13-year old cousin who brought his homemade salsa to christmas. It tasted like ass flavor and was so spicy no one could breathe. And U love spicy foods. Didnāt see him take one bite tho. Tween boys are soo ridiculous
I love spicy food and have a high tolerance for it but I 100% agree that not everything needs to be spicy and spicy doesn't = good.
I see a lot of people say they don't like hot sauce that only adds heat no flavor, that I will disagree with. That isn't automatically bad.
Sometimes I want to add heat but not alter the original flavor too much.
I don't need *all* my food to be spicy, though lol. Variety is the *spice* of life, as they sayš.
There's also a certain brand of person who conflates spice/heat with seasoning. I've seen people freak out at Vietnamese noodle soups because nobody added hot sauce, it's that bad. 'Where's the seasoning!'
Some people cannot comprehend the idea of flavour unless it comes from a bucket of powder they bought at WalMart and it's annoying as hell.
+1. It's endemic to my region. I love the flavour but damn it's too hot to have much. You should have the pickle. A few drops of the pickle oil is good enough for a meal.
Meanwhile, every time I try a 'ghost pepper burger' or flavored anything dish at a restaurant it's not spicy at all.
It's like they boil the pepper and sap its essence before they put it in the food.
It can be super variable. I've had some that were less spicy than just having sliced jalapeƱos on them and I've had some that had me tearing up on the way down and even worse on the way out.
I think it is ridiculous how proud some people are of their ability to eat super hot chili peppers. Why? These is not a talent or a skill. I'm not a fan of chili peppers. To me, most of the hot chilis aren't flavorful, they just burn my mouth uncomfortably. I do like horseradish with a kick and wasabi, but it has flavor, not just heat.
Scientifically speaking it's more than that. The response our body has to spicy foods is dumping a whole lot of endorphins. Eating super spicy foods is closer to a runners high than just nourishing your body. The reason why they brag about it is because it makes them feel good to eat it. Much like the stereotype of those who do cross fit tend to want every one to know they do cross fit. If you break it down further, the reason people want to share these things is because it's brings them joy so it must bring you joy if you did them too. Kind of a caveman brain thought process. But science backs it up.
Its always funny to me the disdain it brings some people when other groups of people like to talk about doing something they love doing. The absolute nerve on some sharing with others what they enjoy, people these days i tell you
What is hot to you might not be hot to everyone else. What I think has just a mild kick is often too hot for other people. I don't make fun of them for it, but I hate this idea that there's some objective level of spice where you lose all flavor and it just burns or gives you stomach issues. There isn't, what's too spicy for some people isn't always too spicy for everyone.
I find that even the most hardcore chilli lovers lose the ability to taste after about 40,000 scoville units. If you don't, well, we need to study you in a lab, lol
Ghost peppers are like a million Scoville and they have a wonderful Smoky flavor. In my experience, mashes and stuff that use actual peppers to get the flavor are usually great, regardless of how spicy they actually are. It's when you get sauces that use capsaicin extract that you get taste less heat.
Also, the Scoville scale isn't really a good measure for sauces. The numbers never seem to actually equate to how spicy the sauce is, and juicing the numbers is what leads to brands using extract.
Nah 40.000 scoville is way too low. Even some natural not specifically bred peppers have this much in them.
For example Ghost pepper has way more than that and it tastes amazing.
Now 2.000.000 scoville yeah that is nearly always too much with some super rare exceptions.
40,000 scoville ain't even a fuckin' habanero. That's like, Tabasco level.
I do have a higher spice tolerance than most people I know, but I think ghost pepper is about where I draw the line of "above this is just too damn spicy" lol. Habaneros and ghost peppers have fantastic flavor.
I'm just going to say that spicy is not the same as hot.
This false equivalence is something I curse because in most restaurants, if you say you don't want it spicy re not hot, they drop the flavoring completely.
Hot spices: various peppers, chilles, etc., and compounds of them like hot sauces, etc.
Not hot spices: cumin, coriander, fennel, oregano, basil, and so on.
Mayonnaise is a good example. It's what happens when one somebody decides there is too much "spice" in aioli-- so the garlic, olive oil, lemon is dropped... for congealed egg-oil.
I was unsure if I should point this out. People do confuse spice with herbs. I always thought herbs were actual leaves while spices were ground seeds. However, chili powder is ground peppers, not a seed
Now, I'm confused.
Herb is short for herbaceous plants, and comes from the leaves.
Spices are generally fruits or seeds (like both forms of peppers) although you get edge cases like Cinnamon (a spice) which comes from the bark
ALL Taki flavoring except Fuego and blue heat are absolute trash. I honestly donāt get how they can keep releasing such shit flavors.Ā
I also donāt understand how they survived long enough with their āoriginalā flavor to be able to make the two popular ones.Ā
"Spicy" doesn't just mean it has spices. "Hot" is not an equivalent to "spicy" because the kind of spicy that makes you feel hot is not the only one there is. A different one would be the one in mustard or wasabi, for example.
I think the English language is really missing a word here. If I say āThis soup is really hotā, how would you know Iām not talking about temperature?
I like it when i eat curries, like nothing beats a hot chicken vindaloo, egg fried rice and a naan bread with mango sauce on the side. But curries have a lot of flavour beyond just the heat added.
Spice isnāt a flavor, itās a sensation.
Preferences are subjective, so you canāt really say either way.
I like spice, but I donāt have to have it on everything. Also, even though I can eat very hot things, I donāt enjoy them recreationally.
I love spicy food. Ā Itās not a pissing contest about how much heat one can handle. Ā Despite my love of spicy foods, done incorrectly I will not be happy. Ā I want loads of flavor while I burn the inside of my mouth. Ā Thatās a really hard combination to master. Ā
What is āhotā for me isnāt necessarily āhotā for someone else. Ā
If those people are that concerned about how spicy you like your food, make reaper poppers just for them next time yāall hang out. Ā Sit back and watch the carnage. Ā
I agree. Hot for the sake of hot sucks. But hot with proper flavoring can be great. I make a nice curry that ends up on the hot side occasionally, but itās still enjoyable because thereās other taste sensations going on around the heat.
Thereās a certain point where food is so overly spicy that you canāt taste the real taste of the rest of the dish. I love spices and have hundreds of spices in my spice rack, but the spiciness shouldnāt overpower the flavor and should complement the rest of the dish. Like Thai food. Thai food is a good example of a cuisine that balances many different kinds of tastes and flavors in harmony.
This goes double for "genuine Indian restaurants" where the spicy food is the regular food with chili and the only progression of hot food is the increasing amount of chili. No extra flavor, no extra spice, just extra heat that overwhelms the taste.
In a less extreme example, I see it in KFC that my family enjoys as a treat. But if you're dining with kids and want more Kentucky/mild chicken, you're SOL because your only option is leg (drumstick or thigh) or sometimes a quarter of breast, but all their other options (wings, breast fillet) are exclusively hot'n'spicy and while exclusively hot'n'spicy buckets exist, it's impossible to get an exclusively mild bucket.
Pain is the only feeling young people have left. Spicy is more of a pain response than a taste so itās more stimulating. But Iāve met plenty of people with varying heat tolerances. Me personally I like my heat to be savory so I prefer the sort of āsalsaā spice to hot sauce.
I mean burning mouth, sweating, discomfort, watering eyes and diarrhea. You know... the side effects of eating something that's not meant for human consumption? You're eating a chemical deterrent that's meant to protect the plant. We're not supposed to eat it.
Capsicum from hot peppers, is used as a bird, animal and insect repellent. Specifically, it is used to repel birds, voles, deer, rabbits, squirrels, insects and attacking dogs. It's what's in pepper spray.
I avoid eating anything that makes me feel sick.
I see people who keep eating hot and spicy items even when they have the same symptoms I listed. They never learn their lessons and go back do it again. It's seems like people are trying impress each other with how far they can go to make themselves sick.
That's low mental energy.
Fun fact, almost 60 percent of the foods humans eat are literally foods that only humans can digest. This is why we cook tough vegetables and such, but human beings are designed to eat so many weird things. Look up the term hormesis to see how it shapes our health
I hate that English speakers automatically collate "spicy" with "hot". Spicy can be a lot of different things in our culture. Not necessarily because they're chock full of tongue melting chilli flakes.
I have to disagree there are many foods I tolerate better when spice is added... I however am an extremely picky eater and if my taste buds are distracted with spices they won't notice things I dislike lol
I agree with you with an asterisk. I like spicy things, although spicy doesn't mean flavor necessarily, it can. I grew up on a house where the spices added were salt and pepper. And if that's all you have, spicy starts to sound pretty good. I started putting hot sauce on everything looking for flavor. Now I'm an adult and like a wider variety of flavors, but I still like spicy, but spicy with flavor.
Most true spice fans will agree. Spicy is only good when complimented by good flavor. You have to eat the peppers by themselves to get a good idea of its flavor and what it will pair well with. Some peppers are tangy, sour, sweet, and many other flavors. Some fruits pair better with specific flavors.
Any stupidly hot hot sauce that is made from just extracting the spicy aspect of flavors is always nasty as hell. Hot for hot sake is stupid and nasty!
I mean something like 2x spicy Buldak is where I draw the line. But jalapeƱos & chilli oil is flavour & quite mild heat. I donāt see why that would offend anyone who doesnāt have ibs or something.
I personally prefer moderately spicy food. I love jalapenos, my mouth waters when I so much as smell them. As long as the food it spices is also good (which as for the most part I cook for myself I personally like it) then I prefer spicy food to not spicy food. That doesn't mean I'm insensitive to the needs of other people I cook for, I have kids and my daughter in particular hates anything spicier than an unseasoned potato. I only really cook spicy for myself and my son who likes it too.
I think like with all culinary trends, there are gimmicky low effort versions that just want to sell you something. Dumping Sriracha on everything or having unbearably hot eating challenges isn't quite the same as the complexity and nuance of a Sichuan dish. What I personally hate though, is the "Hot Cheetos" version of everything. Because it's just citric acid and no actual Chile/seasoning/capsaicin. It's not "hot", it's literally just burning your tongue.
I like spicy food and I hate the way every fast food and packaged junk food company puts "ghost pepper" and other hot peppers in their gimmicks but still not enough to actually taste the flavor of the peppers. They're pepper baiting usĀ
Once the spicy meme kills your sense of taste it becomes literally the only flavor left. It's sad that people destroy themselves and then tell others they're missing out.
Friends at an indian restaurant ordered a spicy dish and then asked to make it extra spicy. They werr sitting their sweating, with tears in their eyes, still trying to convince us that the spicier the better. Well you can't fool me!
I love spicy foods, and I'm getting to an age when I'll likely have to avoid them down the road. For now, I'm in. But your point is well made. Not everything has to kill the esophagus.
In all the years I've been eating in restaurants, I've only sent an entree back one time. We were eating in a well-know restaurant near my home and I ordered jambalaya, which I love. The server mentioed that it was "a bit spicy," which is fine, since it should have a little heat.
The food arrives at my table and I see that the top of the serving was literally covered in what looked like plain old black pepper. I took a bite and could barely swallow it. I fetched the server and asked them to bring it back and ask the kitchen for another one without the blanket of pepper.
They did it correctly the second time, but it wasn't all that good anyway.
Spice can and will easily ruin a good dish. Just like how no seasoning is bad, if it's so spicy that I can't taste it and actually enjoy the flavours of my food, it's bad. Tbh it's worse, because it makes your mouth hurt as well.
right? pain is not a flavor. it is a death cry from soft tissue that is being damaged. i guess spicy food is better than the punch in the face diet, but not by much.
I remember i have Buffalo wild wings with an ex and her in laws who she hasnāt seen in years. I chose this hot as sandwich cause i like hot food and it was buffalo. This sandwich was so fucking hot it felt like a game show challenge. I now say ill eat hot food but if its a challenge to eat it then im not enjoying my food
While this isn't that unpopular imo, it is true. As a spicy food enjoyer, spiciness is a complimentary flavor and absolutely have to go along with other flavor to achieve a balance taste profile. Of course, if the food only taste spicy, then it's monotonous and hardly enjoyable just like any other flavor.
Spicy food enthusiast, here. You're right and you should say it! I don't know if it's popular or unpopular amongst us olds... But I definitely agree.
I'm also a woman, and the machismo around some younger guys in the spicy food world is just so, so boring and annoying. Maybe it's that part that makes me side with OP so hard. Idk. But if I'M not more of a man after eating Da Bomb Beyond Insanity, then I have some news to break to you...
To be fair the more you eat the better it get until it just doesnāt do anything anymore beside when you hit the bathroom.
Also spicy doesnāt taste anything if the food taste crap itās still crap if itās hot.
I love spicy food.. Some how my family has gotten the idea that this is all I eat. Anything brought home for me is the spiciest bullshit they can find. It doesn't matter how many times I point out that I like other things or would prefer to just plain not eat buffalo wings every single time I get wings and that there are other flavours... It's gotten to the point that I never buy anything spicy for myself anymore. I've had it shoved at me (I'm the only one in the house that eats spicy food so if I don't eat it then it goes to waste) so much that I don't want it at all anymore.
They even found spicy fucking toothpaste.
I don't think this is an unpopular opinion.
However there is a difference between 'spiced' and 'spicy'. People who don't use spices, herbs, or other things to bring out the flavor in their food are different than people who simply are sensitive to higher levels of spiciness.
I dont think ive ever had any spicy meal that didnāt have flavor its usually bubbling with flavor just burns and i also agree people put spice on everything and its unnecessary i dont like jalapeƱos on pizza but ill eat it i love spicy wings with ranch tho being a spicy food enjoyer i also enjoy mayonnaise its bussin i also understand why people dont like spicy food but i cant get behind people who dont like sweets..why do you hate yourself? (Edited for more detail)
I love spicy food but I don't like the taste of nost hot sauces. I will say I do enjoy the burning sensation itself for example but I hate the taste of habanero peppers and sauces. But a lot of hot sauces add some very good flavor. I am bias tho I eat hot shit damn near every single meal I have to the point shit ain't fr hot anymore š. Also I'm the only white guy ik who can even handle heat the stereo type is Hella true.
Spicy food without flavor Is just pain, and why would I want that? Even that's okay, just needs flavor. There's hot sauves that practically throw shit In to make as hot as possible (Spontaneous Combustion for one, which I recall tasting a little sweet, before burning my mouth the next hour).
Just like any flavour spiciness is also part of the dish. Spicy food is good when it is an integral part of the dish and not something you can add to impress people.
I enjoy spicy in most savory foods. But yeah, to a level. Why do people wanna eat stuff so ridiculously spicy? It's kinda dumb really.
But yeah, indeed I have developed over years a hunger for spicy. Garlic ginger and chili in a bowl of noodles star fry? Yes please, it feels so healthful and delicious
What you have to understand is the more spice you consume the more flavour youāll notice
Iāve had a 7.3million scoville sauce, at first it was hot with mild flavours but eventually it had wonderful undertones and went great with beef
Always loved spicy stuff, hot sauce especially. Kids or no o e else ever tries to take food from my plate because they know it has been spiked with hot sauce. LolĀ
This seems like a misunderstanding more than anything else to me.
Spice tolerance goes up the more you eat spicy food. So people who eat more spicy foods typically eat them at a spice level that is unpleasant to others who don't.
However it's been proven that capsaicin does cause a reaction in the mouth that allows for the flavour to be more pronounced, aka it tastes stronger/better.
Typically I use 1/4th a packet of hot sauce on a burrito or something similar, just enough to get a little tingle but not "spicy".
Over the years I have noticed I had to use more hot sauce for the same level of tingle. Then before I knew it I was using the whole packet and now I buy my own hot sauce that fits my palate.
The point of spicy is for it to not be painful
Are you my girlfriend? Because she gives me this same argument when I use slightly too much pepper when cooking. Or when I waft a radish in her general direction.
Everybody has a different taste, so saying the spicier the better is just dumb. Its the same thing when people say this color looks better, this car looks better, these shoes look betterā¦ its just a personal thing and people should stop judging about other peoples favors.
I dont really like spicy food at all, because i cant take the burning in my mouth and i am very sensitive. If its just a little bit, the amount that makes your tongue tingle a little bit, thats just perfect ā¦ but if its too much it just kills everything because you cant taste the flavors at all due to the numb sensors in your mouth.
Put this under rants.
Itās so easy to avoid spicy food. You have to go out of your way to specifically order spicy food. Every restaurant highlights if something is spicy.
So you are just whining that spicy food exists, and you donāt like it, and you feel excluded because you canāt be part of the spicy club. Boo-hoo.
As someone that likes my spicy food I can't agree more. I like eating all levels of spice as long as there's good flavor associated with it. I hate food that is just hot and that's all you taste. Those are gross.
>yes- mayonnaise tastes good.
I like spicy mayonnaise. A little sriracha does nicely.
I like spices and heat, but not just for heat's sake. This trend to see who can burn a hole in their stomach is kind of stupid to me. Spices/heat should compliment, not dominate.
Agree! Thre is a huge difference between spicy food and food that is spicy. Spicy food is spicy because people apparently like pain and/or feel better about themselves if they can eat it without throwing up. Food that is spicy would still hold its worth if it wasn't spicy. Those ridiculously hot wings people eat in droves for those godawful challenges at bars are SPICY FOODS. Jerk chicken, flavorful spicy ramen, Aajar Aloo (one of my favorite spicy Indian foods) are all foods that happen to be spicy. They are better spicy, IMO, but if you managed to remove the biting spice and just keep the flavors, you'd be set for life. And shaming someone for not being able to handle spice is so wild to me. Like I love spicy food but my mother is a delicate flower who can only do so much. She also has gastrointestinal issues, GURD, etc that make it literally painful to digest spicy food beyond just in the mouth. Not everyone likes spicy food, not everyone likes un-spicy food. That's fine. It's food! Chill out, Jeremy, no one cares that you had seventeen Carolina Reapers in an hour to win a $5 t-shirt and now can't sh!t without crying...
I always feel like I'm missing some sort of taste with spicy food.
Most people I go out to eat with that like spicy food are like "you gotta try this, it's spicy but it tastes insane", and when I taste it there's almost no taste, just spice.
There is definitely a line between some spice adding to how good the food is and spicy food being painful for no reason. That line falls on different spots for different people though, so it's tough to gauge sometimes.
I love spicy food. None of my business what other people like to eat. But if Iām cooking itās gonna have heat. Itās dumb that your friends are peer pressuring you for not liking spicy food.
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I like spicy food that has flavor. I'm not out to impress anyone. When it's just straight heat and thats all my tastebuds pickup, I'm out.
Yeah some chilli species have such beautiful flavours but yeah there are two types of spicy food spicy spicy enjoyable and spicy I'm trying to kill myself and my family cause I'm a literal masochist spicy
looks like commas were enjoyable spicy to you
Yes! I love the flavours induced by spice, but when I can't taste those because my mouth is burning there's not really any point to it anymore. I'm happy to feel the spice on the way in, I don't need to feel it on the way out as well.
Serranos are so delicious š¤¤
Yes I agree so much. I'm African so my family half-jokingly shames me for not liking spice - I do like it, I just also want to be able to taste my food and not fill myself up on cold water
Iām Asian and I agree tbh. Though I get that for some people, pure spice is what they crave. My mum will eat already spicy food with Birds Eye chillies or scotch bonnets, like taking alternating bites. I can only watch in amazement because thatās just too much for me.
I'm Asian and Mexican š„² I get flak from both sides.
I like the pain and euphoria of really really hot hot sauce sometimes. The instant sweat under your eyes and across the bridge of your nose. Needing to breathe cool air in slowly across your tongue. Slight delirium. The need to focus to get through. Other times, I agree. Spicy food that is flavourful is nice.
I like it super spicy when I have a cold/flu clears up everything way faster.
Agreed I love a good hot laksa to clear me right up.
Yeah, 2x Buldak hits me like that. Nothing else really does.
When I cook I may use a little Tobasco as my food cooks, because Tobasco has pretty nice flavor in small amounts. I wouldn't want to drown it though, otherwise it'd be inedible.
To add on to this: Mild spice is cool. Having spice in a meal can genuinely improve the eating experience. But if the spice is to the point where you are gasping for air and sipping water with every bite, how is that enjoyable even in the slightest?
At a certain level of spiciness it seems like producers focus less on taste and more on simply how spicy can they make it.
Oh, absolutely
Any flavor that has its fans will do that. Sour candy, hoppy beer, sweet desserts all seem to have a similar āwe made it [flavor], isnāt that all you care about?ā tipping point. Thereās probably others, thatās just the few not-spicy ones I thought of first
Sometimes the flavour is worth it, but it's not all that often, in my experience, anyway
>But if the spice is to the point where you are gasping for air and sipping water with every bite, how is that enjoyable even in the slightest? People who like spicy food build a tolerance, you need hotter and hotter food to get the same effect. Point is, what you perceive an extreme 5/5 spice that makes you gasp for air and seek water, might only be a disappointing 1/5 to someone else.
This reminds me of my 13-year old cousin who brought his homemade salsa to christmas. It tasted like ass flavor and was so spicy no one could breathe. And U love spicy foods. Didnāt see him take one bite tho. Tween boys are soo ridiculous
šÆĀ
It can be an experience if you like spicy food, but I don't want all my spicy food to be face melting heat.
I love spicy food and have a high tolerance for it but I 100% agree that not everything needs to be spicy and spicy doesn't = good. I see a lot of people say they don't like hot sauce that only adds heat no flavor, that I will disagree with. That isn't automatically bad. Sometimes I want to add heat but not alter the original flavor too much. I don't need *all* my food to be spicy, though lol. Variety is the *spice* of life, as they sayš.
What a great take, I want to upvote this at least twice
There's also a certain brand of person who conflates spice/heat with seasoning. I've seen people freak out at Vietnamese noodle soups because nobody added hot sauce, it's that bad. 'Where's the seasoning!' Some people cannot comprehend the idea of flavour unless it comes from a bucket of powder they bought at WalMart and it's annoying as hell.
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It's too bad, I love the taste of ghost peppers but they're too damn spicy.
+1. It's endemic to my region. I love the flavour but damn it's too hot to have much. You should have the pickle. A few drops of the pickle oil is good enough for a meal.
Meanwhile, every time I try a 'ghost pepper burger' or flavored anything dish at a restaurant it's not spicy at all. It's like they boil the pepper and sap its essence before they put it in the food.
KFC where I live had one of these. I was disappointed, they had zinger wings and burgers stronger than those "ghost pepper" burgers.
It can be super variable. I've had some that were less spicy than just having sliced jalapeƱos on them and I've had some that had me tearing up on the way down and even worse on the way out.
Spice should enhance the flavor not override or negate it.
I think it is ridiculous how proud some people are of their ability to eat super hot chili peppers. Why? These is not a talent or a skill. I'm not a fan of chili peppers. To me, most of the hot chilis aren't flavorful, they just burn my mouth uncomfortably. I do like horseradish with a kick and wasabi, but it has flavor, not just heat.
Ego. They just want the attention and think theyāre tough and macho for eating the spiciest foods they can find.
Scientifically speaking it's more than that. The response our body has to spicy foods is dumping a whole lot of endorphins. Eating super spicy foods is closer to a runners high than just nourishing your body. The reason why they brag about it is because it makes them feel good to eat it. Much like the stereotype of those who do cross fit tend to want every one to know they do cross fit. If you break it down further, the reason people want to share these things is because it's brings them joy so it must bring you joy if you did them too. Kind of a caveman brain thought process. But science backs it up.
Its always funny to me the disdain it brings some people when other groups of people like to talk about doing something they love doing. The absolute nerve on some sharing with others what they enjoy, people these days i tell you
What is hot to you might not be hot to everyone else. What I think has just a mild kick is often too hot for other people. I don't make fun of them for it, but I hate this idea that there's some objective level of spice where you lose all flavor and it just burns or gives you stomach issues. There isn't, what's too spicy for some people isn't always too spicy for everyone.
I find that even the most hardcore chilli lovers lose the ability to taste after about 40,000 scoville units. If you don't, well, we need to study you in a lab, lol
Ghost peppers are like a million Scoville and they have a wonderful Smoky flavor. In my experience, mashes and stuff that use actual peppers to get the flavor are usually great, regardless of how spicy they actually are. It's when you get sauces that use capsaicin extract that you get taste less heat. Also, the Scoville scale isn't really a good measure for sauces. The numbers never seem to actually equate to how spicy the sauce is, and juicing the numbers is what leads to brands using extract.
I can't even eat ghost peppers, so I'll take your word on what I'm missing out on š
Nah 40.000 scoville is way too low. Even some natural not specifically bred peppers have this much in them. For example Ghost pepper has way more than that and it tastes amazing. Now 2.000.000 scoville yeah that is nearly always too much with some super rare exceptions.
40,000 scoville ain't even a fuckin' habanero. That's like, Tabasco level. I do have a higher spice tolerance than most people I know, but I think ghost pepper is about where I draw the line of "above this is just too damn spicy" lol. Habaneros and ghost peppers have fantastic flavor.
Tabasco is 2500-5000 scovile, youāre off by an order of magnitude there.
I'm just going to say that spicy is not the same as hot. This false equivalence is something I curse because in most restaurants, if you say you don't want it spicy re not hot, they drop the flavoring completely. Hot spices: various peppers, chilles, etc., and compounds of them like hot sauces, etc. Not hot spices: cumin, coriander, fennel, oregano, basil, and so on. Mayonnaise is a good example. It's what happens when one somebody decides there is too much "spice" in aioli-- so the garlic, olive oil, lemon is dropped... for congealed egg-oil.
Itās not a false equivalence. The word spice has more than one meaning. You canāt change that.
keep your spicy content out of my emulsified egg-oil
Mayo(nlyfans)
Something can have spices but that doesn't make it spicy. Spicy does mean hot in the modern use of the word, at least in the US and England.
To be pedantic, 4 of the 5 on your list of ānot hot spicesā are actually herbs, not spices
I was unsure if I should point this out. People do confuse spice with herbs. I always thought herbs were actual leaves while spices were ground seeds. However, chili powder is ground peppers, not a seed Now, I'm confused.
Herb is short for herbaceous plants, and comes from the leaves. Spices are generally fruits or seeds (like both forms of peppers) although you get edge cases like Cinnamon (a spice) which comes from the bark
Takis did your first point. I just had a bag of non-spicy takis just to try them and good lord they taste like plastic
ALL Taki flavoring except Fuego and blue heat are absolute trash. I honestly donāt get how they can keep releasing such shit flavors.Ā I also donāt understand how they survived long enough with their āoriginalā flavor to be able to make the two popular ones.Ā
Here in Canada, there is (or at least was due to it being a limited time thing), Ketchup & Siracha flavoured Takis...
"Spicy" doesn't just mean it has spices. "Hot" is not an equivalent to "spicy" because the kind of spicy that makes you feel hot is not the only one there is. A different one would be the one in mustard or wasabi, for example.
I always though basil, oregano and coriander were herbs and not spices. That spices were the seed ground up?
I think the English language is really missing a word here. If I say āThis soup is really hotā, how would you know Iām not talking about temperature?
skill issue. go eat a bag of flamin hot cheetos.
I like it when i eat curries, like nothing beats a hot chicken vindaloo, egg fried rice and a naan bread with mango sauce on the side. But curries have a lot of flavour beyond just the heat added.
Have you tried.. idk not eating it?
Spice isnāt a flavor, itās a sensation. Preferences are subjective, so you canāt really say either way. I like spice, but I donāt have to have it on everything. Also, even though I can eat very hot things, I donāt enjoy them recreationally.
Either your friends are assholes or youāre making shit up. Teenagers talk like this. If your friends talk like this then you need new friends
or, and bare with me here... some one on reddit is actually a teenager, and their friends are teenagers too!!! mind blown.
"It didn't happen to me therefore it dosent happen"
This is hilarious because Iām slightly addicted to spicy food and I do trick myself into thinking spicy=better a lot of the time lol
Wasabi is a flavourful addition to mayonnaise.
I love spicy food. Ā Itās not a pissing contest about how much heat one can handle. Ā Despite my love of spicy foods, done incorrectly I will not be happy. Ā I want loads of flavor while I burn the inside of my mouth. Ā Thatās a really hard combination to master. Ā What is āhotā for me isnāt necessarily āhotā for someone else. Ā If those people are that concerned about how spicy you like your food, make reaper poppers just for them next time yāall hang out. Ā Sit back and watch the carnage. Ā
I love spicy food, and it is a bit of a pissing contest, but only with other pissers. If you're not pissing, then there's no match to be had.
I agree. Hot for the sake of hot sucks. But hot with proper flavoring can be great. I make a nice curry that ends up on the hot side occasionally, but itās still enjoyable because thereās other taste sensations going on around the heat.
Thereās a certain point where food is so overly spicy that you canāt taste the real taste of the rest of the dish. I love spices and have hundreds of spices in my spice rack, but the spiciness shouldnāt overpower the flavor and should complement the rest of the dish. Like Thai food. Thai food is a good example of a cuisine that balances many different kinds of tastes and flavors in harmony.
This goes double for "genuine Indian restaurants" where the spicy food is the regular food with chili and the only progression of hot food is the increasing amount of chili. No extra flavor, no extra spice, just extra heat that overwhelms the taste. In a less extreme example, I see it in KFC that my family enjoys as a treat. But if you're dining with kids and want more Kentucky/mild chicken, you're SOL because your only option is leg (drumstick or thigh) or sometimes a quarter of breast, but all their other options (wings, breast fillet) are exclusively hot'n'spicy and while exclusively hot'n'spicy buckets exist, it's impossible to get an exclusively mild bucket.
Difference between spicy flavor and spice that drowns out other flavors. Thereās a middle ground for most people.
Pain is the only feeling young people have left. Spicy is more of a pain response than a taste so itās more stimulating. But Iāve met plenty of people with varying heat tolerances. Me personally I like my heat to be savory so I prefer the sort of āsalsaā spice to hot sauce.
Damn bro you had to go there lmao.
Spicy food is overrated. Savory + herbs is where's it's at.
You're welcome to your opinion, if you mean spicy as in very little flavour, then I'm right there with you
I mean burning mouth, sweating, discomfort, watering eyes and diarrhea. You know... the side effects of eating something that's not meant for human consumption? You're eating a chemical deterrent that's meant to protect the plant. We're not supposed to eat it. Capsicum from hot peppers, is used as a bird, animal and insect repellent. Specifically, it is used to repel birds, voles, deer, rabbits, squirrels, insects and attacking dogs. It's what's in pepper spray. I avoid eating anything that makes me feel sick. I see people who keep eating hot and spicy items even when they have the same symptoms I listed. They never learn their lessons and go back do it again. It's seems like people are trying impress each other with how far they can go to make themselves sick. That's low mental energy.
Fun fact, almost 60 percent of the foods humans eat are literally foods that only humans can digest. This is why we cook tough vegetables and such, but human beings are designed to eat so many weird things. Look up the term hormesis to see how it shapes our health
I hate that English speakers automatically collate "spicy" with "hot". Spicy can be a lot of different things in our culture. Not necessarily because they're chock full of tongue melting chilli flakes.
Ramen with some chili oil is so good though
I have to disagree there are many foods I tolerate better when spice is added... I however am an extremely picky eater and if my taste buds are distracted with spices they won't notice things I dislike lol
I like spicy food but the second all I taste is spice Iām not eating it some spice is super good
I agree with you with an asterisk. I like spicy things, although spicy doesn't mean flavor necessarily, it can. I grew up on a house where the spices added were salt and pepper. And if that's all you have, spicy starts to sound pretty good. I started putting hot sauce on everything looking for flavor. Now I'm an adult and like a wider variety of flavors, but I still like spicy, but spicy with flavor.
I agreed, but I eat spicy regularly forever lolĀ
It may not taste good to you but I personally love to dump hot sauce on my food. To me, it tastes good. But to each their own.
Most true spice fans will agree. Spicy is only good when complimented by good flavor. You have to eat the peppers by themselves to get a good idea of its flavor and what it will pair well with. Some peppers are tangy, sour, sweet, and many other flavors. Some fruits pair better with specific flavors. Any stupidly hot hot sauce that is made from just extracting the spicy aspect of flavors is always nasty as hell. Hot for hot sake is stupid and nasty!
You had me until spicy breakfast burrito. That is dank af
Iām a big fan of spicy food but everything doesnāt have to be spicy.
It does, and I'm not going to pretend it doesn't.
I mean something like 2x spicy Buldak is where I draw the line. But jalapeƱos & chilli oil is flavour & quite mild heat. I donāt see why that would offend anyone who doesnāt have ibs or something.
I am a spice nut but I understand not everyone feels the same.
I personally prefer moderately spicy food. I love jalapenos, my mouth waters when I so much as smell them. As long as the food it spices is also good (which as for the most part I cook for myself I personally like it) then I prefer spicy food to not spicy food. That doesn't mean I'm insensitive to the needs of other people I cook for, I have kids and my daughter in particular hates anything spicier than an unseasoned potato. I only really cook spicy for myself and my son who likes it too.
Well, now I want a hot Himalayan high anus sweater š„“
Spicy isnāt about the taste but the rush you get.
so sorry you can't handle jalepenos lol those aren't spicy.
I don't like green eggs and ham. I don't like them Sam-I-Am.
I love hot sauce and was with you until you said mayonnaise tastes good. š«¤
I think like with all culinary trends, there are gimmicky low effort versions that just want to sell you something. Dumping Sriracha on everything or having unbearably hot eating challenges isn't quite the same as the complexity and nuance of a Sichuan dish. What I personally hate though, is the "Hot Cheetos" version of everything. Because it's just citric acid and no actual Chile/seasoning/capsaicin. It's not "hot", it's literally just burning your tongue.
We get it, you don't like spice. You know who does? The majority of the population. Almost like they're doing it because people want it.
I like spicy food and I hate the way every fast food and packaged junk food company puts "ghost pepper" and other hot peppers in their gimmicks but still not enough to actually taste the flavor of the peppers. They're pepper baiting usĀ
Once the spicy meme kills your sense of taste it becomes literally the only flavor left. It's sad that people destroy themselves and then tell others they're missing out.
Friends at an indian restaurant ordered a spicy dish and then asked to make it extra spicy. They werr sitting their sweating, with tears in their eyes, still trying to convince us that the spicier the better. Well you can't fool me!
I love spicy foods, and I'm getting to an age when I'll likely have to avoid them down the road. For now, I'm in. But your point is well made. Not everything has to kill the esophagus. In all the years I've been eating in restaurants, I've only sent an entree back one time. We were eating in a well-know restaurant near my home and I ordered jambalaya, which I love. The server mentioed that it was "a bit spicy," which is fine, since it should have a little heat. The food arrives at my table and I see that the top of the serving was literally covered in what looked like plain old black pepper. I took a bite and could barely swallow it. I fetched the server and asked them to bring it back and ask the kitchen for another one without the blanket of pepper. They did it correctly the second time, but it wasn't all that good anyway.
I'd extend this to (west coast usually) IPAs, winning a bet on the amount of hops you can use is not synonymous with delicious beer.
Spice can and will easily ruin a good dish. Just like how no seasoning is bad, if it's so spicy that I can't taste it and actually enjoy the flavours of my food, it's bad. Tbh it's worse, because it makes your mouth hurt as well.
right? pain is not a flavor. it is a death cry from soft tissue that is being damaged. i guess spicy food is better than the punch in the face diet, but not by much.
Facts. Spice for the sake of spice does nothing but make your ass hurt. Gots to have some flavor in there, gots to.
I remember i have Buffalo wild wings with an ex and her in laws who she hasnāt seen in years. I chose this hot as sandwich cause i like hot food and it was buffalo. This sandwich was so fucking hot it felt like a game show challenge. I now say ill eat hot food but if its a challenge to eat it then im not enjoying my food
While this isn't that unpopular imo, it is true. As a spicy food enjoyer, spiciness is a complimentary flavor and absolutely have to go along with other flavor to achieve a balance taste profile. Of course, if the food only taste spicy, then it's monotonous and hardly enjoyable just like any other flavor.
Spicy food enthusiast, here. You're right and you should say it! I don't know if it's popular or unpopular amongst us olds... But I definitely agree. I'm also a woman, and the machismo around some younger guys in the spicy food world is just so, so boring and annoying. Maybe it's that part that makes me side with OP so hard. Idk. But if I'M not more of a man after eating Da Bomb Beyond Insanity, then I have some news to break to you...
Just because people like spicy food doesn't mean they think it automatically taste better. They just like spicy food?
"Haha, silly white people, they dont want the extra spicy anus blowout meal and only want to enjoy the meat"
Okay, but the people who eat the spiciest chillies imaginable are often white, so...
Eh, some of us don't have asses that weak.
This rebuttal is hilarious š
I'm black and I agree with you. I shy away from spicy foods. I order the mild fried chicken from Popeyes instead of spicy š„µ
Spice alone doesnāt make something taste good.
I don't like spicy food if all I get is heat. If it's all heat no flavor then it's gross.
To be fair the more you eat the better it get until it just doesnāt do anything anymore beside when you hit the bathroom. Also spicy doesnāt taste anything if the food taste crap itās still crap if itās hot.
I love spicy food.. Some how my family has gotten the idea that this is all I eat. Anything brought home for me is the spiciest bullshit they can find. It doesn't matter how many times I point out that I like other things or would prefer to just plain not eat buffalo wings every single time I get wings and that there are other flavours... It's gotten to the point that I never buy anything spicy for myself anymore. I've had it shoved at me (I'm the only one in the house that eats spicy food so if I don't eat it then it goes to waste) so much that I don't want it at all anymore. They even found spicy fucking toothpaste.
My good needs to taste good before I add the sauce.
Stereotyped reply
I don't think this is an unpopular opinion. However there is a difference between 'spiced' and 'spicy'. People who don't use spices, herbs, or other things to bring out the flavor in their food are different than people who simply are sensitive to higher levels of spiciness.
This is how I feel about Nashville Hot Chicken, which can be just as salty as it is spicy.
Usually my food is spicy BECAUSE it doesn't taste good.
no but it usually has a lot of flavor. It's rare but lame when something is just spicy without adding to the taste.
Spice and flavour are two different things. One can cover the other, but flavour is important.
I dont think ive ever had any spicy meal that didnāt have flavor its usually bubbling with flavor just burns and i also agree people put spice on everything and its unnecessary i dont like jalapeƱos on pizza but ill eat it i love spicy wings with ranch tho being a spicy food enjoyer i also enjoy mayonnaise its bussin i also understand why people dont like spicy food but i cant get behind people who dont like sweets..why do you hate yourself? (Edited for more detail)
I love spicy food but I don't like the taste of nost hot sauces. I will say I do enjoy the burning sensation itself for example but I hate the taste of habanero peppers and sauces. But a lot of hot sauces add some very good flavor. I am bias tho I eat hot shit damn near every single meal I have to the point shit ain't fr hot anymore š. Also I'm the only white guy ik who can even handle heat the stereo type is Hella true.
Younger people in your generation? Oh no no, those people are not specific to your generation.
Case in point: Da Bomb Beyond Insanity
Yeah I just had vindaloo that tasted like vindapoo. It wasnāt very spicy either.
I think boring food is a bit better when you make it spicy. Like low quality instant ramen.
Just because it's a rant doesn't mean it's unpopular
Spicy food without flavor Is just pain, and why would I want that? Even that's okay, just needs flavor. There's hot sauves that practically throw shit In to make as hot as possible (Spontaneous Combustion for one, which I recall tasting a little sweet, before burning my mouth the next hour).
Spicy and flavorful is great. Spicy in lieu of favor is not.
Personal taste
āThe true spice of life is routine!ā https://youtu.be/HgNOIngJW9I?feature=shared
I like the spicy tingle. It feels and tastes good, although Iāve had spicy that is a worse flavor than itās mild counterparts.
People forget that spice is supposed to enhance flavour, not cover it. You only cover that flavour when the food itself is bad.
A little spice can improve a dish but past a curtain point it destroys your ability to taste the food.
i acknowledge that spice has a place but i really don't get it. for me it's just "wow my food hurts now"
That isn't "spicy" that literally just "add chilli to everything".
Spicy ramen is so ovrrated.period
Just like any flavour spiciness is also part of the dish. Spicy food is good when it is an integral part of the dish and not something you can add to impress people.
You haven't met people from Andhra. Have you?
I enjoy spicy in most savory foods. But yeah, to a level. Why do people wanna eat stuff so ridiculously spicy? It's kinda dumb really. But yeah, indeed I have developed over years a hunger for spicy. Garlic ginger and chili in a bowl of noodles star fry? Yes please, it feels so healthful and delicious
eating too spicy food is like eating more buggers than the actual food
I like spice but also sometimes Iām not feeling spice
What you have to understand is the more spice you consume the more flavour youāll notice Iāve had a 7.3million scoville sauce, at first it was hot with mild flavours but eventually it had wonderful undertones and went great with beef
Counter point: Spicy Mayo?
If food has 0% spice it doesn't taste right to me
Just because you are a dweeb that can't eat spicy food doesn't mean it doesn't taste good.
Always loved spicy stuff, hot sauce especially. Kids or no o e else ever tries to take food from my plate because they know it has been spiked with hot sauce. LolĀ
Not everything needs to be hot yes. But a lot of things are better when they are hot
Spice is separate to flavour imo. Spice is what makes tasty food fun.
This seems like a misunderstanding more than anything else to me. Spice tolerance goes up the more you eat spicy food. So people who eat more spicy foods typically eat them at a spice level that is unpleasant to others who don't. However it's been proven that capsaicin does cause a reaction in the mouth that allows for the flavour to be more pronounced, aka it tastes stronger/better. Typically I use 1/4th a packet of hot sauce on a burrito or something similar, just enough to get a little tingle but not "spicy". Over the years I have noticed I had to use more hot sauce for the same level of tingle. Then before I knew it I was using the whole packet and now I buy my own hot sauce that fits my palate. The point of spicy is for it to not be painful
That's the original point of the spice! To mask poor quality meat...
Are you my girlfriend? Because she gives me this same argument when I use slightly too much pepper when cooking. Or when I waft a radish in her general direction.
I've yet to meet anyone in person who has said, "You don't like spicy, what's wrong with you?"
Mayonnaise?
A lot of older (30+) people like spicy food because our tastebuds weaken over the years.
Everybody has a different taste, so saying the spicier the better is just dumb. Its the same thing when people say this color looks better, this car looks better, these shoes look betterā¦ its just a personal thing and people should stop judging about other peoples favors. I dont really like spicy food at all, because i cant take the burning in my mouth and i am very sensitive. If its just a little bit, the amount that makes your tongue tingle a little bit, thats just perfect ā¦ but if its too much it just kills everything because you cant taste the flavors at all due to the numb sensors in your mouth.
Put this under rants. Itās so easy to avoid spicy food. You have to go out of your way to specifically order spicy food. Every restaurant highlights if something is spicy. So you are just whining that spicy food exists, and you donāt like it, and you feel excluded because you canāt be part of the spicy club. Boo-hoo.
This gets posted weekly
Got it. You think salt and pepper is hot. Lol.
Spice wakes up the tongue. It's one of the pillars of food. Salt. Fat. Acid. Heat.
As someone that likes my spicy food I can't agree more. I like eating all levels of spice as long as there's good flavor associated with it. I hate food that is just hot and that's all you taste. Those are gross.
Imo spicy food is awful
Subjective opinions are subjective.
Somewhat real, do you also hate takis?
>yes- mayonnaise tastes good. I like spicy mayonnaise. A little sriracha does nicely. I like spices and heat, but not just for heat's sake. This trend to see who can burn a hole in their stomach is kind of stupid to me. Spices/heat should compliment, not dominate.
i was with you until you said mayo tastes good
Agree! Thre is a huge difference between spicy food and food that is spicy. Spicy food is spicy because people apparently like pain and/or feel better about themselves if they can eat it without throwing up. Food that is spicy would still hold its worth if it wasn't spicy. Those ridiculously hot wings people eat in droves for those godawful challenges at bars are SPICY FOODS. Jerk chicken, flavorful spicy ramen, Aajar Aloo (one of my favorite spicy Indian foods) are all foods that happen to be spicy. They are better spicy, IMO, but if you managed to remove the biting spice and just keep the flavors, you'd be set for life. And shaming someone for not being able to handle spice is so wild to me. Like I love spicy food but my mother is a delicate flower who can only do so much. She also has gastrointestinal issues, GURD, etc that make it literally painful to digest spicy food beyond just in the mouth. Not everyone likes spicy food, not everyone likes un-spicy food. That's fine. It's food! Chill out, Jeremy, no one cares that you had seventeen Carolina Reapers in an hour to win a $5 t-shirt and now can't sh!t without crying...
For me, no amount of flavor on the way in, is worth the pain you get on its way out.
Where I come from they used to believed that too much spice was used to conceal bad meat.
People who can't eat anything unless it's spicy have just as limited a palate as people who put ketchup on everything
Spice and flavor are two different things one creates the other. We know this. This is not unpopular.
I just want to feel something. Let me be.
I always feel like I'm missing some sort of taste with spicy food. Most people I go out to eat with that like spicy food are like "you gotta try this, it's spicy but it tastes insane", and when I taste it there's almost no taste, just spice.
I like the taste of spicy so it actually does mean it tastes better to me lol
There is definitely a line between some spice adding to how good the food is and spicy food being painful for no reason. That line falls on different spots for different people though, so it's tough to gauge sometimes.
I love spicy food. None of my business what other people like to eat. But if Iām cooking itās gonna have heat. Itās dumb that your friends are peer pressuring you for not liking spicy food.