What Makes Us Love the Pain of Hot Peppers?

WSJ ^ | 28 Aug 2021 | Matt Siegel

[DUMBGRUNT]

One theory says the sensation distracts from other pains; another says we’re just showing off.

Humans like to eat a lot of strange things—decomposed shark, Namibian warthog rectum, British food—yet among the strangest is our taste for chili peppers: a fruit that, ecologically speaking, specifically evolved to repel us.

But whereas other berries have thorns to protect against seed-destroying predators, chilies have a defense mechanism in the form of the chemical compound capsaicin, the principal function of which is to cause pain for predators. The scientific term for this is “directed deterrence.”

a habanero pepper or order your food “Thai hot,” and your body essentially thinks it’s being attacked by a chemical weapon.

Some farmers in Africa, to keep elephants away from their crops, plant chilies along the borders of their fields, or mix chili powder with motor oil and smear it on fences, or burn bricks of chilies and dried elephant dung.

...Chili-flavored birdseed is also a thing, used to prevent squirrels from pilfering bird food

. Indeed, research shows a correlation, particularly among teenage males, between a preference for spicy foods and testosterone levels, as well as personality traits associated with the pursuit of money, sex and social status.

Such hypermasculine display and self-inflicted harm are hallmarks of adolescent coming-of-age rituals going way back. In Aztec times, young men were held over fires to mark their transition from youth to adulthood, symbolizing their transformation from “raw” youth to “cooked” adulthood.

But for the military too, spicy foods have become a staple of combat rations, especially for long deployments. Beginning in Iraq in 1990, the U.S. military started issuing miniature glass bottles of Tabasco sauce with meals

Then again, maybe the explanation is simpler. Perhaps we just can’t resist the temptation of forbidden fruit—or, in this case, forbidden berries.

[9YearLurker]

Maybe people enjoy the spice/flavor?

(Not when to the masochistic level, of course.)

[9YearLurker]

And is Namibian warthog rectum appreciably different than our traditional stuffed sausages, let alone chittlins?

[DUMBGRUNT]

—”And is Namibian warthog rectum appreciably different than our traditional stuffed sausages, let alone chittlins?”

Same mother, different brother.

[Oatka]

Horseradish is standard in shrimp cocktail sauce.

I make my own, using ketchup and horseradish - the hottest I can find, then experiment until I get just the right flavor/burn.

[sidebar] I found out that some horseradish can be the equivalent of nuclear waste. The local casino has a Sunday prime rib buffet and has some of the hottest horseradish I have ever tasted. Got a huge dollop to go with the meat, ended up buckets of tears running down my cheeks, and a burning mouth that couldn't taste anything. First time I retreated, as I can handle habaneros with ease.

[wardaddy]

My kids eat super hot food

I like maybe 7-8 on a 10 scale

Curry from any nation that makes it.

Mexican food of course.

I love hatch peppers....not super hot but good

Creole food uses some heat mostly cayenne

Jamaican scotch bonnets were my first truly hot peppers....used in East Indian food migrated to the West Indies

As a southerner near New Orleans we had a lot of hot food.

My maternal grandma...a deep woods east Mississippi petite ginger woman Was a wonderful soul food cook....and flavored her food well

Her favorite dish was cast iron skinless fried chicken with biscuits or skillet cornbread....white soda style not sweet yankee yellow

She’d take her chicken....mostly breasts and skinless ..she preferred. And would put a pile of salt and take a gnarly twisted dark green pepper ....quite hot

Cut a bite of bird and dip it in salt and take a bite of pepper and some bread

A ritual...

Followed by sweet tea and maybe a side of ice cold buttermilk

Her chicken was perfect and it’s how I make it today